Fun Friday: Spoon Candy, a Retro Treat

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    Back in the mid-70s, Jello put out a dessert kit that my dad just loved.  It was called Spoon Candy.  It was pudding treat in candy flavors, like peanut butter cup, that had a chocolate topping that hardened like the outer chocolate of a candy bar.  Unfortunately, after about 3 years this delectable dessert was taken off the market for some unknown reason.  I guess not everyone liked it as much as my dad did. (Well, the rest of our family liked it, too.) 
     Fast forward to this decade and an ice cream topping called Magic Shell is sold in grocery stores.  It has the magical ability to pour as a liquid out of the bottle and then harden quickly when it gets cold.  There are versions of this product put out by Smucker's and by Hershey. As soon as I became acquainted with this stuff I flashed back to Spoon Candy.  I thought to myself, "Surely I can remake that magical, retro dessert."
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I started with a peanut butter pudding, because obviously peanut butter cups are one of the best candies.

    I found the recipe for peanut butter pudding on tasteofhome.com. Then, I wanted to make a vegan version, so I substituted coconut milk and coconut cream for the milk and cream in the recipe.  Maddy loved it! It did have a little hint of coconut flavor mixed with the peanut butter flavor, which was not a bad thing at all.  When the pudding is slightly cooled and setting, pour Magic Shell on the top and cool the rest of the way.  Hershey even has a Reese's Peanut Butter flavor shell which made this dessert even better! 

    After the peanut butter experiment was a success, it started to be fun to come up with more flavors and add ins that would give the delicious Spoon Candy experience.  I thought, this would be a fun family activity!  Have some flavors of pudding available and various add ins and see who can come up with the most creative combinations.  Here are some of the ideas that we have tried:

Instant Oreo Cookie Pudding! You could add extra cookies and sprinkle them on top of the Magic Shell. I didn't have any, so we used M&Ms.

Did you know that Coconut Cream Pudding actually has bits of real coconut in it? And, it comes in instant or cook and serve. I added more shaved coconut to it, plus sprinkled it on top. If you have almonds, you could make a spoon version of Almond Joy or Mounds.

I love cook and serve butterscotch pudding the best. For this Spoon Candy I added crushed Heath Bar bits to add a little toffee crunch. So good!

Then, we went a little farther with the butterscotch pudding idea and added a layer of marshmallow cream! It really starts to look like a candy bar.

I've also thought of :

• chocolate pudding with marshmallows or cookie layers
• adding nuts or sprinkles
• layering a couple of kinds of pudding, maybe putting the magic shell in the middle and the top.
• How about sprinkling Rice Krispies on the chocolate, like a Crunch Bar! 
• You could use caramel ice cream sauce as a layer! 
• Jello does make sugar-free pudding  so shell will be the only thing with sugar if you want.

What other versions can you think of? Let me know in the comments! I'm sure that kids could come up with a ton of ideas! 

I prefer cooked puddings.  But, if you use instant, like we did for some flavors, don't use soy or almond milk in instant pudding or it won't set.  Coconut milk works great! 
I must confess that this version is not exactly the way I remember Spoon Candy to be, but it is pretty good.  Besides, that was 40 years ago, so my memory is probably fading! This is still a great way to have some fun and deliciousness on a weekend! 
​Happy Fun Friday! 

PS:  The Smucker's Magic Shell comes in lots of flavors!