These are super easy Halloween dirt pudding cups with chocolate pudding, oreo crumbs, gummy worms, and some fun Halloween candy decorations. Best of all, they're done in less than 30 minutes! Makes about 12 servings.
Graveyard pudding cups are one of our favorite spooky treats to make in October. They're kid friendly for eating and helping to assemble, which makes them an awesome activity idea for kids' Halloween parties, along with Easy Witch Hat Crescent Rolls.
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They are not the neatest. I am AWARE. Luckily the kids don't mind! We LOVE no bake Halloween treats like Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip, and this one is an awesome addition to our fall treat rotation. I've been known to layer the pumpkin dip with oreos instead of chocolate pudding. SO good!
For Halloween dinner, we like to have Creamy White Chicken Chili with Honey Butter Cornbread and a fun dessert like this or Instant Pot Caramel with apples.
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What To Expect
- Taste: creamy chocolate pudding with Oreo crunchy bits, and a nice peanut butter cookie on top with a fruity gummy worm and a pumpkin! The variety of flavors and textures is nice.
- Ease: This is a beginner recipe, no cooking is required! Just a little melted chocolate.
- Time: Since these are a no bake Halloween treat, they're super quick to make and assemble, less than 30 minutes!
🛒 Key Ingredients
- Chocolate Pudding Mix - make sure you get the INSTANT chocolate pudding, not the cook and serve version! This is the "mud" for our graveyard Halloween cups. You'll want 2 large (5.9oz) family-sized boxes.
- Oreos - regular single stuffed are best, double stuffed work as well, but are more wet. Make sure you get a family or party-sized package, you'll need at least 30-35 oreos.
- Milk - as long as its dairy, you can use 1%, 2%, or whole milk. Nondairy milks will not work for this recipe, pudding mix requires regular milk to set up correctly.
- Chocolate Chips - dark or semi-sweet chips and white chocolate chips will be for the R.I.P. cookies and the mummy cookies.
- Cookies - besides the Oreos, you'll want Milano style cookies - I got chocolate, but any flavor you like will be fine! Nutter Butter cookies work well for the mummies, but if you find another cookie you like better, go for it! We love the peanut butter in them.
- Candy - we love gummy worms and mini pumpkins for the graveyard, but you could do candy corn, bone candies, fun Halloween sprinkles with eyeballs, etc.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Pudding - you can use chocolate fudge, white chocolate, cheesecake, or butterscotch pudding mix! Really any flavor will work, we just use chocolate because it looks the most like mud. You could even layer in Pumpkin Fluff Dip!
- Candy - you can use any type of gummy worms, sour or not, or use candy corn instead of mini pumpkins. There are so many options out there for fun Halloween candies to use!
- Oreos - you can use chocolate cereal like cocoa pebbles or chocolate graham crackers in place of the Oreos. Just make sure you don't make the pudding cups too far ahead, or the cereal will get soggy.
- Cookies - you can use marshmallow ghost peeps, Reese's pumpkins or bats, or pumpkin shaped cookies for some other Halloween pudding cup ideas.
🧑🍳 Instructions
- Step 1. Place the Oreos into a gallon sized zip-close bag and crush them by hand or with a rolling pin until they are in small crumbles, about pea sized.
- Step 2. Transfer the chocolate chips to plastic bags or disposable frosting bags. Melt the white chocolate first, for about 20 seconds in the microwave, and mix around by squishing the bag gently, then warm them up for about 10 more seconds.
NOTE: Don't warm up the white chocolate longer than 20-40 seconds, or it will seize and stiffen and not be useable for piping. It doesn't need as long to melt as normal chocolate!
- Step 3. Lay out 12-15 Nutter Butter cookies on a plate or parchment paper. Cut a tiny hole in the corner or the bag of melted white chocolate and drizzle across the cookies, sideways first and then diagonal if you want more of a "mummy" look. They don't have to be perfect!
- Step 4. Next, lay out 12-15 Milano cookies. Melt the chocolate chips for about 30 seconds, mix around by squishing the bag gently, then warming up for another 10-15 seconds if needed. Make sure there are no hard chocolate bits in the bag, then cut a tiny hole in the corner, and carefully pipe R.I.P. on each cookie.
Let both sets of cookies rest so the chocolate can set. You can place them in the refrigerator or freezer for 10 minutes to speed this process up.
- Step 5. While the chocolate is cooling, make the pudding! Mix the milk and pudding mix together in a medium-sized mixing bowl according to package directions, until the pudding is soft set.
- Step 6. Time to assemble! Set out about 12 plastic party cups (short fat ones), 8 oz in size. In total, there will be about 3 layers each of pudding and oreos. I used a 3 Tablespoon muffin scoop to scoop the pudding in for the first layer.
- Step 7. Scoop about 1.5 Tablespoons of crushed oreos on top of the pudding. Repeat with the pudding and oreos again for the second layer. Before you do the third layer, you can put in the gummy worms on the edges of the cups so they are visible from the outside. Then you can scoop in the last layer of pudding and oreos.
- Step 8. Last, place a RIP cookie, and a mummy cookie side by side toward the back of the cup. Then place a pumpkin candy in front, and if you wish, some fun Halloween sprinkles! There are a few sprinkle mixes with witches' fingers and eyeballs, which are so cute.
📌 Top Tips & Hacks
- Serve within 2-4 hours of assembling these dirt pudding cups, otherwise the cookies, worms, and Oreos can get a bit soggy.
- You can make the pudding ahead, crush the oreos, and get the cookies ready with the melted chocolate the day before to save a bit of time in assembly. Just make sure they don't get eaten by kids. Or husbands.
- Make sure you use the fat short clear plastic 8 oz party cups! There are smaller 5 oz snack cups you could use to make more servings too, but if the cups are too tall and narrow it's difficult to get the decorations in, which are the BEST part. You could also use small ice cream bowls.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
How long do Halloween pudding cups last?
Refrigerate: for up to 2 days, but note that the texture of the cookies will be softer if left overnight. Best served the day of assembly.
Freezing is not recommended.
Can I use store bought icing for the RIP letters?
Yes! I don't like to spend extra money when I already have chocolate chips at home, so I use what I have on hand. You could also use an edible pen to write the letters.
Can I use other types of pudding?
You can use other flavors of pudding, just make sure you use instant pudding mix.
More Delicious Fall Treats
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📝 Printable Recipe
Halloween Pudding Cups
These are super easy Halloween dirt pudding cups with chocolate pudding, oreo crumbs, gummy worms, and some fun Halloween candy decorations. Best of all, they're done in less than 30 minutes! Makes about 12 servings.
Equipment
- 1 gallon sized zip close bag
- 2 small plastic zip close or pastry bags
- 12 8 oz small wide party cups
Ingredients
- 35-40 Oreos
- ½ cup white chocolate chips 100g
- ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 50g
- 12 Nutter Butter Cookies
- 12 Milano Cookies
- 6 cups milk must be dairy
- 2 (5.9oz) Family sized boxes Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix
- 12 mini pumpkin candies
- gummy worms
- Optional: Halloween sprinkles
Instructions
- Place the oreos into the gallon sized zip close bag, and make sure it's fully closed. Smash the oreos by hand or with a rolling pin until they are in about pea sized crumbles.
For the Mummies and RIP cookies:
- Transfer the chocoalte chips into separate bags. Lay out 12-15 Nutter butter cookies on a flat cutting board or parchment paper.
- Melt the white chocolate first, for 20-30 seconds in the microwave. Gently squish the bag to make sure there is no hard chocolate pieces left. You can warm the bag for another 5-10 seconds if needed. The chocolate will seize if it gets too warm. Cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bag and drizzle the chocolate sideways over the cookies, and once more in a diagonal direction for the mummy look. Let the cookies rest for the chocolate to set.
- Microwave the semi-sweet chocolate next, for 20-30 seconds. Gently squish the bag to distribute the melted chocolate and warm in 10 second increments if needed. Lay out Milano cookies on a flat surface.Cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bag and pipe the R.I.P. letters onto the cookies, and eyes and mouth onto the mummy cookies. Allow the chocolate to set for 10-15 minutes, or place in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.
- Mix the milk and chocolate pudding mix in a medium sized bowl with a whisk according to package directions until soft set.
- Set out 12 serving cups. Scoop a 2-3 Tablespoon amount of pudding into each cup. (There will be about 3 layers each of pudding and Oreos). Then layer about 1.5 Tablespoons of crushed Oreos on top. Do a second layer of pudding and Oreos, then lay gummy worms into the cups. Scoop the third and last layer of pudding and Oreos.
- Decorate the dirt cups with the R.I.P. cookies, mummy cookies, pumpkin candy, and fun Halloween sprinkles as another option. Enjoy!
Notes
This is a super fun Halloween party activity for kids!
Serve within 2-4 hours of assembling, or refrigerate up to 2 days, keeping in mind that the cookies will become softer.
NOTE: if the chocolate chips get to warm in the microwave the chocolate will seize and won't be usable to pipe onto the cookies. It can't be saved and will need to be replaced with new chocolate chips.
Nutrition
Calories: 404kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 9gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 258mgPotassium: 320mgFiber: 1gSugar: 30gVitamin A: 264IUVitamin C: 0.04mgCalcium: 180mgIron: 5mg
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Sara says
We've made these with vanilla and butterscotch pudding, and peanut butter oreos and vanilla oreos. All are delicious! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! Please leave a comment here and share your feedback with a star rating. I really enjoyed creating this recipe and post for you!