What, Hormel, no bacon? Come on, get with the trends. Even the children who will be stumbling through this pudding recipe know that bacon was hella trendy during their fourth grade heyday of gold stars and homework passes. Regardless, Hormel has inexplicably decided to branch out into the pudding game, with flavors including bubblegum, cotton candy, birthday cake, and the most texturally incongruent of them all, cookie dough.
Cookie dough-flavored pudding is a new one for me, and this one happens to come with chocolate-flavored chips to top with. Whether this will pass the guilty fridge finger swipe test is yet to be determined. The ingredient list is valiant and attempts to mimic cookie dough, molasses being the most commendable of inclusions. That addition sets this apart from other cookie dough-flavored items, most notably, the latest Oreos. It adds a richness to it that simulates the buttery, dark flavors of freshly baked cookies without being too obtrusive or sweet. While it’s decidedly pudding- lacking in the gritty thick texture that cookie dough is so known for, it’s still a very good snack and a damned easy one at that. The chief downfall of pudding, lumps, works really well here, as it mimics that crunch and inconsistency of a good cookie dough.
Oddly, although the chocolate chips are riddled with poor ingredients, like soy lecithin and chocolate liquor, they have a fairly deep, dark substantial flavor to them that blends well with the pudding. Despite the lack of texture, this pudding is pretty close to the real deal, and with no need to bake, it’s an inspired and easy dessert.
I tried the S’mores flavor and was surprised at how good it was. The pudding is graham flavored with little marshmallows and chocolate chips to stir in. It did a good job of replicating the flavor of s’mores. Will have to try the cookie dough one.