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★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
Worms and dirt for dessert? Trust me. Kids will love this Oreo dirt dessert and you will too! Theme it for Halloween with some spooky yet cute toppings.
This delicious dessert is a crowd favorite for several reasons. It tastes amazing, it's easy to make, and it's just so fun to eat dirt.
Cake Pan or Trifle Bowl
You can make this dessert in a pan like a cake, or layer it in a trifle bowl. Decorate it with worms or, with a little creativity, you can dress it up for any holiday.
What is Dirt dessert, exactly?
Dirt dessert is a classic American dessert made by blending pudding, cream cheese and cool whip then topping or layering with crushed Oreos.
The crushed Oreos look a lot like dirt especially when you add in gummy worms or other candies that make you think of Earthy dirt.
Great for Special Occasions
This cake can be transformed into a beach, a graveyard, an Easter egg hunt, a construction site, a Valentine's Day delight, flower pots... really anything you can dream up!
Decorate to fit your theme
This cake can be transformed into a beach, a graveyard, an Easter egg hunt, a construction site, a Valentine's Day delight, flower pots... really anything you can dream up!
We have made this for Halloween, 4th of July and Easter — topped it with green sprinkles and candy eggs so it looked like an Easter Egg hunt. The possibilities are endless!
You really don't even need a special occasion to make this yummy dessert though. It's so delicious and is always a hit at potlucks or family gatherings. Kids especially love the worms, of course, but honestly adults get a kick out of them too!
Make it a Full Menu
Pair this Oreo dessert with a family-friendly casserole, and delicious salad, and a nonalcholic beverage for a quick and easy, kid-friendly party menu.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
You only need 6 ingredients to make this Oreo Dirt Dessert!
You'll need: cream cheese, instant vanilla pudding mix, milk, Cool Whip, Oreos and gummy worms.
It's very important to buy and use instant pudding mix or the filling will not set.
You can use a non-dairy milk like almond, oat or soy if you prefer.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This is easy enough for kids to make!
This recipe is fun to make with kids and if you have older children, they could probably make it themselves.
No cooking required. Gottta love that right? Perfect for the summer months or you can even make it when camping. Just a little blending and layering.
Here are the steps:
- Blend cream cheese, instant pudding and milk.
- Fold in Cool Whip.
- Add Oreo cookies to a large ziplock bag.
- Crush them using a rolling pin.
- Layer cream cheese mixture then cookie crumbs.
- Add decorative toppings!
Gummy worms are added to the top layer to give the illusion of edible "dirt" or take it a step further and add other toppings. More ideas below.
★ Holiday Variations ★
Try these fun variations to create a holiday dessert!
Halloween Graveyard Cake
This dirt cake is a great Halloween party dessert. Dress it up with Milano cookies for graves, ghost-shaped Peeps, candy pumpkins and googly eye candies. I melted chocolate and piped the "RIP" onto the Milano cookies.
Red, White and Blue Dirt Cake
You can layer this cake so that the Oreos are on top, or so that the white pudding mixture is on top. So if you want a white background for your decorations, flip flop the layers and end with white as the top layer.
This is how to create a red, white and blue look — top the white layer with red and blue fruit for a patriotic look (perfect for a 4th of July or Memorial Day celebration). Red strawberries or raspberries and blueberries show up nicely against white layer on top. Create an American flag look, or simple arrange the fruit in a way that you want!
★ Tips & FAQs ★
You can prepare this dessert in a trifle bowl. This option is fun because all the layers are visible so people can see what they are digging into.
Or maybe you want it to look more like a cake. In that case, you can prepare this dirt dessert in a flat cake pan.
Serve this dirt dessert in individual cups using small disposable cups or reusable silicon cupcake liners.
Yes! Using flower pots is a fun way to serve dirt dessert. Prepare this dessert in little cups and add edible or silk flowers or plants to the "dirt" which would be cute for a wedding or baby shower.
Be sure to use small, food-safe dessert flower pots. Or line regular flower pots with cupcake liners, and then place a real, fondant, or silk flower in each pot.
This is really cute for a birthday, baby shower or graduation party too. Choose any color flower to match the other party decor.
Add trucks to make a construction site birthday cake. Add toy trucks of any kind. Monster trucks, construction trucks, or whatever your birthday boy or girl is into.
Yes! This recipe tastes great using vanilla Oreos and this can give you a sandy look that's great for creating beach scenes. Add a beach cake topper set and you're good to go!
You can use a food processor, or you can place the Oreos in a large ziplock bag and go over them with a rolling pin until the turn into crumbs.
I would recommend making this and serving right away.
After a few hours, the Oreo crumbs can begin to get a little soggy. For that reason, I would not recommend making it the night before.
Try substituting vanilla Greek Yogurt for half the cream cheese and half the Cool Whip. The creamy texture and sweet-tart flavor of Greek yogurt tastes great and makes and awesome substitute for lighting up the original recipe.
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This easy Oreo Dirt Dessert recipe was featured on South Your Mouth!
Oreo Dirt Dessert
Equipment
- trifle bowl or
Ingredients
- 16 oz. cream cheese softened
- 8 oz. Cool Whip
- 3.9 oz instant vanilla pudding
- 3 cups milk
- 25.5 oz Oreos (Party Size package)
Toppings
- 1 small package gummy worms
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Instructions
- Blend cream mixture. Add instant pudding mix and milk to a bowl and blend with a hand mixer until smooth. Next beat in softened cream cheese. Fold in Cool Whip and place mixture in fridge until ready to assemble.
- Make Oreo crumbs. Place Oreos into a plastic bag and lightly roll with a rolling pin until the cookies crumble and you can't see the white cream anymore and it begins to actually look like dirt.
- Assemble. Add a layer of the Oreo "dirt" crumbs on the very bottom, then a layer of cream cheese mixture. Repeat layers, alternating until the last layer of Oreos is on top. For a white top, start with the cream cheese mixture.
- Add toppings and serve. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 2 hours until served. Add worms or other decorations to your dirt dessert right before serving.
Video
Notes
- You can layer this with Oreos on top, or the pudding mixture on top. Whatever works better for your decoration plans!
- Use whipped cream cheese or be sure to use softened (room temperature) cream cheese to better blend the pudding into a smooth and creamy texture.
- Do not chill longer than 2 hours or Oreo crumbs will soften and become mushy.
Joy says
Has anyone ever used almond milk substitution?
Angela G. says
Hi Joy, You can use almond milk to replace the milk if you'd like!
Alyssa G says
Is there a step missing of making the pudding first? There is no way that 2 bricks of even softened cream cheese will fully blend with the instant pudding mix and cold milk without getting clumpy… I’ve been stirring for 20 minutes with different attachments attempting to fix this to no avail.
Angela G. says
Hi Alyssa, for best results, blend the milk and the pudding, then add the cream cheese and lastly fold in the cool whip so it stays fluffy. Thanks for asking! I've updated the recipe instructions to be more clear. Really appreciate the feedback.
Lisa says
My tips are assemble as close to serving as possible so the Oreos don’t get soggy. Use Philadelphia cream cheese. Blend the Oreos in a food processor instead of using a rolling pin. It’s night and day and really comes out looking like dirt. I used a fun Halloween bucket that resembles a pale you would bring to the beach and I stuck a small beach shovel in there to make it look like a bucket of dirt.
Emily says
I love this dessert and I made your recipe perfectly the first time. Now that I'm trying to make it again, I have failed 3 times and feel defeated. The pudding, cream cheese, milk mix just stays liquid and won't solidify at all. Any suggestions!?
Angela G. says
Oh Emily, I'm sorry! I would guess that maybe you picked up regular pudding instead of instant pudding. The packaging is very tricky. "Instant" is in very small lettering. I've made this mistake myself. I hope this helps!
Bailey says
What size package of Oreos are you supposed to use??
Emily says
@Angela G., thank you so much!!! I am going to make sure I double check it and try again.
Sheila moore says
I also noticed with many of the generic cream cheese brands they stay clumpy, and don't work as well as good old philadelphia brand when cooking... and using whole milk... less than whole milk is not as thick and creamy, and a little more watered down each step you go down in percentage...
Allie Wells says
If I mix it all together instead of layering, do you think there would be an issue?
Angela G. says
The Oreos may get a little soggy if you don’t layer. Ideally you’ll want to have Oreos as a top layer so they keep some of their crunch.
Martha says
Turned out good! I used a blender for the Oreos and that was a lot easier.
Angela G. says
Glad you enjoyed it!