Dirt Cake

Dirt Cake is one of my husband's favorite childhood desserts. I love his family's version of Dirt Cake with its' layers of rich, creamy pudding and crushed Oreos. If you like cookies and cream, then you must try this recipe!

Recipe Link
Ingredients
1 large bag of Oreos (family size, about 20 oz.)
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
2 small boxes Instant vanilla pudding
12 oz. Cool Whip
Optional, extra Oreos, gummy worms or other candy to garnish or decorate
Directions 
1. Scrape icing off of Oreos and put into a large bowl (save cookies to crush later).
2. Prepare pudding according to package directions. Set aside.
3. Mix icing and softened cream cheese together until well blended. Mix in pudding, then fold in Cool Whip.
4. Turn Oreos into "dirt" by placing cookies into a blender or food processor until finely crushed.
5. Start layering with about 1/3 of the "dirt" first on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Then, half of pudding mixture, half of what's left of the "dirt", put the rest of the pudding mixture on top and finish with the rest of the "dirt."
6. For best consistency, make one night ahead and refrigerate until serving time. You can also place this in the freezer and let it slightly thaw before cutting.
Serves 12-16

Notes: My favorite way to eat this dirt cake is frozen. It turns out like a cookies and cream ice cream cake. Yum!
You can layer this dessert into separate cups and put some gummy worms on top for a fun kid dessert.

Source MIL

After scraping icing into a large bowl, blend softened cream cheese and icing together

Add in the prepared vanilla pudding

Fold in the Cool Whip

Pulse the cookies in a food processor or blender until you have "dirt"

Start layering with the cookie crumb dirt on the bottom

Spread half of the creamy pudding mixture on top of the cookies. Repeat with another layer of cookie crumb, creamy pudding and finish if off with more cookie crumbs on top

After chilling in the fridge or freezer overnight, cut and serve with a cookie on top, if you like. Enjoy!

The Results...
Everyone here loves this dessert. It doesn't last long at our house. I made this for my son's 11th birthday a few years ago. I added some plastic bugs and wrote "Happy Birthday" with gummy worms on top. He really liked it!

You could also turn the top of this cake into a graveyard to make it festive for Halloween time. Some tombstones and little zombies would be perfect! Or, if you want to be less scary, you could turn the top into a pumpkin patch with some candy pumpkins. Have fun with it! And enjoy!