Chocolate Peanut Butter Power Pudding Topped with Unsweetened Coconut Flakes

Who doesn’t love a nice chocolaty treat?   But sometimes it’s hard to find something that tastes great, satisfies your sweet tooth and still fits into your healthy lifestyle!  Our Power Pudding is a great, protein heavy snack we created for those times when you want something sweet like a dessert, but that also helps you stay within your balanced nutrition on days when you are intending to be on track.

This recipe follows our philosophy of “simple, sustainable & fun” because it is super easy to make, the ingredients are easy to keep on hand and when is pudding not a fun treat option???

Power Pudding is super flexible as you can vary most of the ingredients to suit your tastes and macro requirements.

We were originally turned on to this idea and inspired by the awesome runner, fitness coach and running coach @suemcdonaldfitness

A FEW NOTES ON THE INGREDIENTS:

Chocolate protein powder

The backbone of this dish is a high quality chocolate flavored protein powder.  If you have a brand you like and keep on hand, it will most likely work.  The two that we recommend are Optimum Nutrition (ON) Oats & Whey Powder and Promix Nutrition Grass-Fed Chocolate Whey.  We like these specifically because they are all natural and don’t contain any sugar substitutes.   The Promix is a great low-carb option as well at only 8g carbs/serving.  If you prefer a protein with less carbs, we suggest using ones that have no sugar added or are sweetened with plant-based sweeteners such as Stevia or Monkfruit (versus sucralose).

Peanut butter or peanut butter powder

Organic PB Fit

When it comes to peanut butter, the best rule of thumb is to use a brand that is just ground peanuts and possibly salt.  Stay away from processed peanut butters like Skippy or Jif.  One of our new favorites is an organic, all-natural peanut butter by Santa Cruz.  We especially like the dark-roasted variety!  Power Pudding also works well with peanut butter powder.  This is peanut butter that has had most of the fat removed and then dried and made into a powder . We like the organic versions of PB Fit and also PB2.

Milk

There are many, many options when it comes to the milk.  You can use your choice of milk (whole, 1%, 2%), cream, half & half, or you can use one of the many varieties of non-dairy alternatives like Almond Milk, Coconut Milk, Hemp Milk, Rice Milk, Pea Milk (one of our favorites), or even Banana milk (which has a great thickness to it and makes for a great flavor combination with the chocolate and the peanut butter).  A final note about the milk…the amount of liquid you use is really up to your texture preference with the pudding. For a thicker pudding, use less milk!

Ingredients:

1 scoop – your favorite chocolate shake powder (or any flavor of protein powder)

2 Tbsp – peanut butter or peanut butter powder (or any flavor nut butter you prefer)

About 1/4 C – Milk or milk alternative

Directions:

• Add the shake powder and peanut butter (or peanut butter powder) to a bowl
• Add in about 1/8 C of milk (or milk alternative)
• Stir to combine
• Add more milk and stir as needed to get to a consistency you like (varies between cake batter texture to pudding to soupy as you add more liquid)
• Refrigerate for 10-20 minutes to help firm it up or freeze for 30-60 minutes to make it more like an ice cream treat

Some additional options we like are:

• Add in 1/2 to a full extra ripe banana and stir in with the pudding before you chill it
• Stir in 1 Tbsp of cocoa nibs for a nice crunch (before or after it is chilled)
• Top with your favorite nuts, seeds, berries or unsweetened coconut flakes

We hope you enjoy the Power Pudding and look forward to hearing your favorite flavor combination!