Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Rainbow Pudding-Perfect for Saint Patrick's Day





Every March I get a craving for Irish food.  I love to eat new potatoes, corned beef and cabage.  Sadly my famiy does not. This year I am trying to start some new Saint Patricks Day traditions, with food my family will eat.  I started with the desert. Are you suprised? 

A few months ago I saw online a very cute cupcake made into rainbow stripes by dividing the batter into seperate bowls and then adding food coloring to each to made a different stripe in the rainbow.  I loved the idea and made a rainbow cake with my daughter.  It was a hit.  So I decided to try it with pudding.  It worked great.  A couple of tips. 

  1. To make the stripes stand out you need a significant amount of pudding for each color.  I used 2 packets of instant pudding and it made 5 LARGE servings.  
  2. The type of food coloring you use matters.  I have found that the GEL food coloring works the best.  I found it at the local Grocery Store.  I used Betty Crocker Classic Gel Food Colors, and they worked great. (thanks to BettyCrocker.com for the photo)
  3. I found that having 7 bowls to wash when I was finished did not make me happy, so when I make this I use large paper cups to mix the pudding and the food coloring together in. 
Rainbow Pudding Recipe:  (This is so easy I feel kind of silly posting it)
2 boxes vanilla or other white instant pudding mix
milk, the amount called for on the box of pudding
Gel Food Coloring
Paper Cups

1.  In large mixing bowl combine instant pudding mix and milk, following the manufacturers instructions to make pudding. 
2.  Diving pudding evenly into seven large paper cups
3.  In each cup place a different color of food coloring. Red, yellow, orange (yellow + red) , green (yellow + blue), blue, and purple (red + blue).  Stir well.  Adjust food coloring as necessary.
4. Spoon into clear cups or serving dishes in reverse rainbow order.
5. Chill and serve.