Ghosts in the Graveyard Chocolate Pudding Cups

So apparently I am way behind the times because I’ve started seeing things like Christmas gift-giving ideas and the-best-homemade-holiday-treats-ever posts pop up on my Facebook feed. I’ve even seen The Elf pop in a time or two on Pinterest.

Whoa.

I love Christmas as much as the next girl, but we’re still two weeks away from Halloween. I’ve gotta live in the moment here or I’m going to be a panicky huddled mess in the corner by December 25. We’ve got Thanksgiving next month. Christmas is more than two months away. Can we just eat a candy cane Oreo and sing “Silent Night” and call it good for another 5 weeks or so?

This was actually supposed to be an entirely different individual-dessert-in-a-cup project, but the whole time I was making that one, it just felt wrong–unnecessarily complicated and something I would likely never actually eat. And then it all came together in a completely different, treat-in-a-cup way and I love how they turned out!

I love these spooky pudding cups because they’re super easy, but they’re also amazingly delicious. This isn’t one of those projects where you’re going to spend all day (or two days!) on and they’re still going to look roughly like a two-year-old made them (as so often things like this do for me, but I kind of lack in this department; I tried drawing a horse the other day and it looked like a mutated dog)–you can make these and they’ll be adorable and you’ll still have time left over for a nap.

To start, whisk together the chocolate pudding and cold water.

Add the can of sweetened condensed milk and whisk until smooth (smooth-ish?).

Place the bowl in the refrigerator.

In a medium (or large) mixing bowl, beat 1 cup of the heavy cream with electric beaters until soft peaks form.

Remove the pudding mixture from the refrigerator and fold in the whipped cream

until completely combined.Distribute the pudding mixture evenly among clear individual glass or plastic cups or jars (a 6-ounce cup with a wide rim would be the perfect size for pudding, plus a little extra room for the dirt, ghost, and tombstone).

Place the pudding cups in the refrigerator. This step can be done up to 24 hours ahead of time.

Place 2 cups Oreos in the jar of a blender

and pulse until you have Oreo crumbs.

Sprinkle over each pudding cup so it looks like dirt.

Using a marker with edible ink (like this one) or melted chocolate (snip off a tiny corner of the bag), write “R.I.P.” on the top of each Mint Milano cookie.

Insert each cookie into one side of the pudding cup.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining 1 cup heavy cream and the powdered sugar. Beat until medium peaks form (be careful not to turn it into butter, but you want it to hold its shape.) Transfer the whipped cream to a large Ziploc bag and cut off a corner so you have about a 1/2″ opening. Swirl the whipped cream on top of each pudding cup like in this tutorial to make a ghost. Add two eyes to each ghost. Makes 10-12 pudding cups.

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Ghosts in the Graveyard Chocolate Pudding Cupsby Our Best Bites

Ingredients

1 3.2-ounce package of instant chocolate pudding1 cup cold water1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk1 pint heavy whipping cream, divided2 cups Oreo cookies10-12 Mint Milano cookiesMarker with edible ink or 1/4 cup chocolate chips mixed with 1 teaspoon canola oil, melted in a Ziploc bag1/4 cup powdered sugarCandy eyes (look for them in the cake decorating section of your grocery or craft store)

Instructions:

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the chocolate pudding and cold water. Add the can of sweetened condensed milk and whisk until smooth. Place the bowl in the refrigerator.

In a medium (or large) mixing bowl, beat 1 cup of the heavy cream with electric beaters until soft peaks form. Remove the pudding mixture from the refrigerator and fold in until completely combined. Distribute the pudding mixture evenly among clear individual glass or plastic cups or jars (a 6-ounce cup with a wide rim would be the perfect size for pudding, plus a little extra room for the dirt, ghost, and tombstone). Place the pudding cups in the refrigerator. This step can be done up to 24 hours ahead of time.

Place 2 cups Oreos in the jar of a blender and pulse until you have Oreo crumbs. Sprinkle over each pudding cup so it looks like dirt.

Using the marker or melted chocolate (snip off a tiny corner of the bag), write “R.I.P.” on the top of each Mint Milano cookie. Insert each cookie into one side of the pudding cup.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining 1 cup heavy cream and the powdered sugar. Beat until medium peaks form (be careful not to turn it into butter, but you want it to hold its shape.) Transfer the whipped cream to a large Ziploc bag and cut off a corner so you have about a 1/2″ opening. Swirl the whipped cream on top of each pudding cup like in this tutorial to make a ghost. Add two eyes to each ghost. Makes 10-12 pudding cups.