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Graveyard Dirt Pudding

Layers of chocolate pudding and cream under a drift of cookie crumbs, with shortbread tombstones and a few gummy worms surfacing.

Graveyard Dirt Pudding — Halloween recipe
Prep time
30 min + chill
Serves
10
Difficulty
Easy
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A trifle bowl of layered chocolate pudding and sweetened cream, buried under crushed cookies so the top looks like fresh-turned soil. Stand a few iced tombstones in it and the children will not stop talking about it.

Ingredients

  • 2 packages chocolate pudding mix (or 4 cups homemade)
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 8 oz whipped topping or 2 cups whipped cream
  • 1 package chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
  • Shortbread or milano cookies for tombstones
  • Gummy worms
  • Black icing pen for the R.I.P. lettering

Instructions

  1. Whisk the pudding mix with the milk and chill until thick.
  2. Beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar, then fold in the whipped topping.
  3. In a glass trifle bowl, alternate layers: cookie crumbs, pudding, cream, repeating twice.
  4. Finish with a thick layer of crumbs so the top looks like fresh-turned soil.
  5. Write R.I.P. on the shortbread cookies with black icing and let them set, then stand them in the crumbs.
  6. Chill at least 4 hours. Tuck gummy worms in just before serving so they stay firm.

Why it works & making it ahead

This is the make-ahead dessert of the lot — assemble it the day before and it only improves. Keep the final crumb layer thick and uneven, never smoothed. Add the gummy worms just before serving, or the moisture turns them slack.

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Assemble the day before — it only improves overnight.

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