My kids love a Cherry Bakewell. I mean, they really love a Cherry Bakewell and so I wanted to find something they could eat until their heart's content that's just as good as a Bakewell but without the nasties. This is it: The Cherry Chia Pudding. Enjoy :)
Cherry Chia Pudding
If you read my blog often I imagine I've told you a hundred times that we have something of a love for cherries here. Fresh, frozen, doesn't matter, I buy these in the supermarket in huge quantities and stock the freezer with them, such is my (and my kids!) love of cherries.
There are loads of cherry flavored things about and hands up, I used to buy them. Whether it's cherry sweets, cakes, whatever it was, cherry flavor was usually the kids first choice. So when we started eating Clean I didn't want to cut out all the things they loved and so I started finding 'cherry' alternatives they'd eat.
As it turned out this was easier than I'd thought it might be, mostly thanks to frozen cherries. Fresh cherries whilst delicious are expensive out of season and I try to buy our food in season anyway, and so most often for us cherries come frozen.
Do they taste like the cherry flavored sweets the kids used to like? No. But that's not cherry anyway, it's chemical cherry and real ones are a hundred times better. I promise!
This cherry chia pudding is made with almonds for that Bakewell flavor. Cherries and almonds are a match made in heaven and so this works so well. If you're unable to find ground almonds where you live you could use an almond extract in place of the real ones, in which case add 1 teaspoon of extract and up the chia seeds to 1 and a half table spoons to allow for the lack of ground almonds.
More Cherry Recipes
What's Good About Chia Seeds?
Chia seeds are truly awesome little things. Being an ancient seed there have been many before us who've known of their health benefits even though for us, or me, they're not something I remember being around when I was growing up. I certainly never ate them or was given them, so I'm glad they've made a huge come back now.
Chia seeds are something you should try and include in your diet:
- They're high in fibre - meaning they'll full you up and help stop you snacking!
- They're loaded with antioxidants
- They may help bone health - Chis seeds give us calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium
- Chia seeds are easy to incorporate into your diet. They're easy to use in recipes and take on the flavor you're using in the recipe. Yep, even chocolate!
Make Ahead Cherry Pudding
Make ahead cold puddings are the best, right? They're what we've replaced the pre-made flavored yogurts with in our house, and I often have a couple of make ahead puddings in the fridge for the kids to pick out after dinner.
You can make this cherry pudding a day or two ahead and leave it in the fridge until you need it. I don't worry about covering these as they don't form a 'skin', but you could pop a little food wrap on the top of each one if you'd prefer they were covered.
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What To Serve With This Cherry Pudding
What's bette than pudding? Pudding with toppings on top! Toppings can be anything you like, even a few choc chips if you fancy it, especially when you're starting out with changing the foods you eat to better, whole food versions. I'm not a fan of strict food rules and so if you've got the kids eating cherry chia pudding and they fancy a few choc chips, throw some on! I can confirm white chocolate goes best with this!
Other than the choc chips, we usually we skip between having this on it's own or with some fresh cream. If I've got some whipped cream sitting in the fridge I'll put a dollop of that on top, or even a little ice cream if you have some. I make these in teeny tiny little glass pots though and there's not a huge amount of room to add things. This is a good plan if like me and a couple of mine, portion control is an issue!
More Chia Recipes
- Vanilla chia pudding for kids
- Chia breakfast pots
- Chocolate chia smoothie
- Chia banana boost
- Cherry raspberry smoothie
How To Make Cherry Chia Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Almond milk
- 1 Cup Frozen sweet cherries Defrosted, pipped, blended
- ½ Cup Whole cherries Unblended, whole, pipped
- ½ Cup Chia seeds
- 1 tbsp Almonds + 1 teaspoon to put on top Whole or ground
- ¼ Cup Maple syrup + more to drizzle on top 100% pure
Instructions
- Put the defrosted cherries, milk, maple syrup, chia seeds and almonds in a processor (I use the small cup of a NutriBullet) and whizz them up.
- Add the chopped fresh cherries to the mixture and lightly combine
- Divide between 4 small pudding glasses and drop the whole cherries into the pudding
- Let the puddings set overnight, or at least for 3-4 hours
- Serve with some maple syrup, almonds and whipped cream on top, or simply as they are!
Cherry Chia Pudding Recipe
Cherry Chia Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Almond milk
- 1 Cup Frozen sweet cherries Defrosted, pipped, blended
- ½ Cup Whole cherries Unblended, whole, pipped
- ½ Cup Chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon Almonds + 1 teaspoon to put on top Whole or ground
- ¼ Cup Maple syrup + more to drizzle on top 100% pure
Instructions
- Put the defrosted cherries, milk, maple syrup, chia seeds and almonds in a processor (I use the small cup of a Nutribullet) and whizz them up.
- Add the chopped fresh cherries to the mixture and lightly combine
- Divide between 4 small pudding glasses and drop the whole cherries into the pudding
- Let the puddings set overnight, or at least for 3-4 hours
- Serve with some maple syrup, almonds and whipped cream on top, or simply as they are!
