Description
These Dirt Pudding Cups use homemade extra dark chocolate pudding, tangy whipped cream and classic crushed chocolate cookies layered together to make for a cute and delicious dessert.
Ingredients
For Black Cocoa Pudding:
4 ounces (115 grams or 1 scant cup) chopped semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (30 grams) unsalted butter, diced
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (21 grams) cornstarch
2 tablespoons (14 grams) black cocoa powder
Pinch salt
2 large egg yolks
3 cups (680 grams) whole milk
For Whipped Cream:
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons granulated sugar (optional)
3/4 cup (170 grams) heavy cream
For Assembling:
12 ounces (about 24) Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Gummy worms (or other gummy candy)
Instructions
Make the Pudding:
- To a medium metal bowl, add the chocolate and the butter. Place a fine-mesh strainer over the bowl; set aside
- In a medium pot, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, black cocoa, and salt. Whisk in the egg yolks and milk until fully combined.
- Turn on the heat to medium and cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the pudding has thickened and large bubbles are forming and popping, about 8 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and immediately pour through the strainer into the bowl with the chocolate and butter, using a spatula to push all of the pudding through while leaving behind any bits of cooked egg.
- Let the pudding sit for 2 minutes while the chocolate melts, then whisk it together until fully combined. Place a piece of plastic wrap or parchment on top of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming.
- Let the pudding cool at room temperature before chilling in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.
Make the Whipped Cream:
- Using an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese and granulated sugar until mostly smooth. Slowly drizzle in the heavy cream on low speed, then increase to medium and whip until the cream has reached soft stiff peaks, about 2 minutes more. Set aside.
Assemble the Cups:
- Remove the chilled pudding from the refrigerator, discard the plastic wrap, and give it a whisk to loosen it up.
- Using a food processor (or a rolling pin and a bag) crush the cookies (see note). Add 2 tablespoons of the cookie crumbs into each of 6 jars (see note about sizing), Using the back of a spoon (or something similar), press down on the crumbs to tightly pack them into the jars.
- Spoon (or scoop) a heaping ¼-cup of black cocoa pudding into each jar.
- Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of cookie crumbs on top of the black pudding in each jar.
- Add half of the whipped cream to the remaining black cocoa pudding. Use a rubber spatula to fold it in until no white streaks remain.
- Spoon (or scoop) a heaping ¼-cup of the whipped cream/pudding mixture into each jar.
- Sprinkle the tops of each jar with 2 tablespoons of cookie crumbs.
- Garnish as desired with gummy worms and/or remaining whipped cream.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Use whatever jars you have on hand. I used these 7-ounce cups dessert cups, which were a large portion of pudding when filled up all the way. Feel free to play around with the quantity of cookies and pudding when assembling to suit your needs.
If you cannot find black cocoa, use Dutch-process cocoa in its place.
For a nice textural contrast, crush half the chocolate sandwich cookies roughly, with larger chunks remaining, and the other half finely.
This recipe has a built-in garnish of whipped cream for serving. If you prefer to skip the garnish of whipped cream, reduce the amount of heavy cream to ⅓ cup, and reduce the amount of sugar to 1 tablespoon (but keep the amount of cream cheese the same). If you struggle to get the cream cheese and sugar to whip together, drizzle in about a tablespoon or so of the heavy cream to give it some volume to smooth out. Just make sure to scrape down the bowl so no bits of heavy cream are stuck to the bottom. Then, whisk this full amount of whipped cream into the pudding.
These pudding cups are best served the same day they are made. They begin to “deflate” and get soggy after 1 day. Still delicious, but not quite as good as on the first day.