Pudding is always a holiday staple for dessert, but most pudding is full of refined sugar and other high calorie, unhealthy ingredients.  This recipe is healthy and very tasty, so consider serving this to guests, or just for yourself this Christmas.

Here’s the recipe:

Serves: 4 – 1 cup servings of pudding topped with 1 cup of fruit for eachserving

Ingredients:2 cups whole sweet cherries, pitted (fresh or frozen) weighing 10ounces1 – 13.5 ounce can coconut milk¼ cup maple syrup1 Teaspoon almond extract1 Teaspoon vanilla extract1/8 Teaspoon sea salt¾ cup chia seeds½ cup hemp seedsFor Topping:4 cups halved and pitted fresh or frozen cherries

Instructions:1.  Combine the 2 cups of cherries, coconut milk, maple syrup, almond and vanilla extracts, and sea salt in a blender. Blend until smooth.2.  Add the chia and hemp seeds and blend on low just to combine.3.  Pour into containers for storage in the fridge. I used 1-pint jars and filled them up halfway with 1 cup ofchia pudding in each jar.4.  Let the chia pudding set up for 1 hour in the fridge before topping with the fresh or frozen cherries. If you try to top the pudding with fruit right away, the fruit will sink into the pudding.5.  The puddings will keep 4-5 days refrigerated.

Happy Holidays!  Enjoy…