Easy Pear Recipe Kids Will Love — Porcupine Food Art Has Only 3 Ingredients!

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Snack time is always our kids’ favorite time of the day. This easy pear recipe transforms a simple, raw pear into fun, porcupine food art that your kids will love. Stick a cheese cube on a toothpick, insert them all over the pear, and you have a perfect fruit and cheese pairing that’s kid-friendly and mom-approved.

When it comes to getting your kids to want to eat their fruits and vegetables, it’s all about how you serve them.

That’s why The Produce Moms love finding fun and creative ways to arrange traditional, nutritious snacks in a way that appeals to your little one’s eyes. 

Porcupine Food Art

Pear porcupine food art is sponsored by Sage Fruit

After all, half the battle is making them look yummy and familiar. Animal food art has always been a success at snack time in our house, and we know your kids will love this easy pear recipe, too. 

This time, we use cheese cubes and toothpicks to turn pears into porcupine food art. It turns a simple pear recipe into an easy, quick, and fun way to get your kids involved with you in the kitchen!

Grab your kiddos and let’s make some pear porcupine food art. 

Ingredients

Pears, cheese cubes, toothpicks, and mini chocolate chips

One of our favorite things about this recipe is that you only need three ingredients and no cooking is necessary. All you do is assemble the ingredients to look like a prickly little porcupine and serve! The toothpicks make this a fun snack during a movie or family game night and provide for easy snacking, too. 

Pears

We used a Bosc pear in this easy pear recipe because its skin is a unique brown color similar to russet potatoes — perfect for resembling a porcupine. These pears also have a long, curved stem that’s perfect for creating the face and neck. Bosc pear flesh is more dense so they are ideal for holding up to the toothpicks during assembly. Green D’Anjou pears also work but the porcupine face will not be as defined.

Cheese Cubes

Use your favorite type of cheese cubes — cheddar, swiss, and colby jack are a few of our kids’ favorites. You can buy the cheese already prepped and cubed for zero prep work, or buy a block of cheese and cube it into your preferred bite-size pieces. We love the no-prep method because you can put the pear porcupines together even quicker for those times when the kiddos are a little on the hangry side. 

Mini Chocolate Chips

You can’t go wrong with mini chocolate chips. Plus, they’re the perfect size for porcupine eyes and a mouth. The pears don’t allow a ton of space for the chocolate chips so we recommend using the minis versus the regular size to achieve the look of that precious face.

How to Turn Pears into a Fun Porcupine Snack

Now that you’ve got your ingredients for this easy pear recipe, let’s turn them into a porcupine!

Cut away the skin from the narrow end of the pear with a knife.

Step 1: Trim the pear. 

Lay the pear on its side and use a paring knife to cut off the stem. Trim skin, cutting from the bottom of the neck toward the narrow end of the pear. Turn the pear to cut away the skin and form a cone shape for the porcupine face. 

Tip: Stick two toothpicks on the lower front of the pear to make little legs and stabilize the pear as you work. 

Insert the toothpicks into the cheese cubes and insert into the pear.

Step 2: Make the quills (spikes).

Stick the cubes of cheese about one third of the way down on the toothpick — one cube of cheese per toothpick. Insert the small end into the pear so the cheese is touching the pear flesh and the toothpicks point outward. These are the iconic quills.

Pear porcupine with cheese cubes and toothpicks and a mini chocolate chip face

Step 3: Create the face. 

Slightly rub the backs of the chocolate chips so they slightly melt and stick to the pear. This is the last finishing touch to create the eyes and mouth on your pear porcupine.  

Why We Love Sage Fruit

Sage Fruit produces high quality pears out of the Pacific Northwest in Washington and Oregon. They contribute 84% of the nation’s fresh pear crop and are always juicy and sweet. The unique climate in the PNW creates the ideal blend of volcanic soil, mountain water, and balanced warm days with crisp nights  — your kids will happily gobble up this nutritious snack! Look for Bosc or Green D’Anjou pears in the produce aisle for this easy pear recipe that looks like a porcupine.

More Delicious Pear Recipes

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Pear Porcupine Food Art

Make snack time fun and nutritious with this easy pear recipe that makes a fun porcupine snack creation!
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Servings1

Equipment

  • toothpicks

Ingredients 

  • 1 Sage Fruit pear
  • Cheese cubes
  • Mini chocolate chips

Instructions 

  • Cut away the stem and trim the skin off the neck (narrow end) of the pear.
  • Put a cheese cube on a toothpick a third of the way down and stick the cheese cube end into the pear. Repeat until the pear is covered with cubed toothpicks.
  • Place the mini chocolate chips on the front to make the eyes and mouth and serve!

Nutrition

Calories: 182kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 108mg | Potassium: 219mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 212IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 133mg | Iron: 0.4mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Appetizer, Snack
Calories: 182
Keyword: easy pear recipe, pear recipe
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Pinterest Pin Pear Porcupine

About Lori

Lori Taylor is the Founder & CEO of The Produce Moms. For ten years she sold fresh produce to over 300 grocery stores throughout the United States, and today she is fully focused on working with the produce supply chain, media, and government to increase fresh produce access & consumption in the US and around the globe. Connect with Lori on LinkedIn.

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