Lest you become alarmed at seeing the word ‘gastronomy’ above a picture of a groundhog - rest assured, we will not be discussing the finer points of woodchuck barbecue. This coming Tuesday (February 2nd) throngs of people in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania will be waiting with baited breath to see what our friend Phil will do.

It is the day that the Groundhog comes out of his hole after a long winter sleep to look for his shadow.

If he sees it, he regards it as an omen of six more weeks of bad weather and returns to his hole.

If the day is cloudy and, hence, shadowless, he takes it as a sign of spring and stays above ground

You can read more about this amusing annual tradition on the website of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. And learn more about the groundhog (aka woodchuck, marmot, whistle-pig or land beaver) on National Geographic’s groundhog page.

So in honor of Groundhog Day, I’ve put together a little food craft tutorial and it couldn’t be easier. A handful of ingredients are assembled quick enough for even the shortest attention span and what you end up with is a reasonable (and edible) likeness of Punxsutawney Phil poking his head up out of his hole.

Punxsutawney Phil
Pudding Pops

Makes 6.

Ingredients:
(1 box) pudding mix
(2 cups) milk
(6) wafer cookies
(12) sliced almonds
(4-6) chocolate chips

Supplies:
bowl, whisk, measuring cup
foil baking cups
cupcake pan
small microwave safe bowl for choco chips
toothpick

Directions:
1. First up, let’s create our groundhogs! Melt a few chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for about 45 seconds. Allow to cool for about a minute - you don’t want the chocolate to be runny, but more the consistency of glue. Dip the narrow ends of two sliced almonds into the chocolate and adhere to the back of a wafer cookie - this forms the ground hog’s ears.

Below is an image of a completed groundhog as seen from behind.

Next, dip the tip of a toothpick into the chocolate and dot onto the front of the wafer cookie to create eyes. Similarly draw a heart or Y shape with the toothpick and chocolate to form the groundhog’s nose. Set your groundhogs on a plate (face up) and refrigerate while you make the pudding.

2. Place empty baking cups into a cupcake pan. I found that foil baking cups were easier to release from the frozen pudding versus paper cups. (To make it even easier to remove the cups from the frozen pops, consider placing an extra wafer cookie flat in the bottom of each cup before pouring in the pudding.) Prepare pudding according to package directions - usually it’s just beating 2 cups of milk and the mix for 2 minutes.

3. Insert each groundhog about one third to one half of the way into a filled pudding cup. Place the tray in your freezer for about two hours until the pudding is solid. And then you’re ready to enjoy - viva Punxsutawney!

Alternate ideas:
*If you want to enhance the look of the “dirt” surrounding your wafer cookie Phil, consider crumbling a chocolate sandwich cookie (like an Oreo, but scraping off the white filling first) over the pudding before freezing.
*Don’t like pudding pops? Insert a groundhog into a chocolate cupcake - works just as well.
*Not into groundhogs? You can just as easily transform your wafer cookie into any number of characters - play around and have fun!

Fun fact! Did you know that the groundhog is the largest member of the squirrel family?

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