After posting some groundhog day treats, I felt very inspired to try something, so I looked around to see what I had on hand….and the only cookies I found were some Italian ladyfingers stashed away in the cupboard. I’ve never tried making tiramisu nor any other dessert with them, so this seemed like a good excuse to experiment with them a bit. There was no cream around, so I decided to use some vanilla yogurt and to make some home made pudding. It was supposed to be vanilla pudding, but at the last minute, I threw in some cinnamon to give it a flavor that I remember from Guatemala. Funny thing is, I was in such a rush to make the desserts (and I was on the phone at the same time) that I totally forgot to put in the butter and the vanilla! I scraped the bowl and ate the last little bit and it tasted fine to me…..so we’ll see how this dessert turns out….it will definitely be low-fat with no cream and no butter……
Here’s the pudding recipe I use, from Hershey’s Classic Recipes Book:
2/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder (optional)
2 and 1/4 cups of milk
2 Tbsp. butter or marg.
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Stir together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan; gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils; boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla.
Pour into individual dessert dishes. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface; refridgerate. Remove plastic wrap. Garnish with whipped cream and nuts if desired. Makes 4 to 5 servings.
Instead of making chocolate pudding, I just added a piece of cinammon stick while the mixture was boiling. It gives a fairly strong cinnamon flavor. And I forgot the butter and vanilla!!! I love eating this pudding while it’s warm…it’s such a homey comfort food for me!! 🙂
Layering ladyfingers and hot pudding and then cream (or yogurt)…. 
Making the groundhogs: chocolate chips for cheeks, sliced almond tops for ears and teeth, candy melts for eyes and nose…. 
Happy Groundhog Day! 🙂 We’ll see if he sees his shadow or not….not much light around here today, just snow and more snow…
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