Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to cook for. I think the main reason for this is because Halloween has an endless amount of themes and creative directions to go when planning a meal. I enjoy the other holidays too, but it just seems like Halloween allows my creative side to come out so much more.
Since we got married, my husband and I have hosted a small family dinner with food related to our costumes that year. To name a few, we have done a Star Wars theme, a Dr. Seuss theme, and even a Harry Potter theme. We try to come up with foods that go with the theme, and we try to make it a fun experience for everyone.
This year, we did a pumpkin theme. D, my daughter, was drawn to the pumpkin decorations at the store, so that is where our theme came from for the year. (Not to mention, a maternity shirt with a pumpkin face for my super pregnant belly was perfect for my costume this year!) I did not want to make it too literal – as in pumpkin-flavored everything – so I tried to go with slightly different ideas. Here is what I came up with:
- Garden Grillers: Hamburgers with make-your-own topping options
- Pumpkin Fries: Sweet potato fries (just the store-bought version with seasoned salt sprinkled on them)
- Caterpillar Eggs: Red grapes that were taken off the stem
- Pumpkin Patch: Layered pudding to resemble a pumpkin patch in the garden (recipe included below)
I always like to put cute (or scary) labels on the food when I put everything out buffet-style. This year, I used orange notecards with a black permanent marker and Halloween stickers. Sometimes, I also use my Cricut to make slightly more fancy designs too.
My recipe for the Pumpkin Patch Pudding is included below – it is a fun variation on the classic “dirt and worms” pudding or cake that you may have had as a kid, and you can do tons of customizations to fit many many occasions. Placing it in a trifle dish elevates it a little, and makes it stand out as a somewhat fancy dessert. I used homemade pudding (I seriously think it is way better than boxed pudding), but you can use whatever kind of pudding you would like. The recipes for the homemade pudding I made are included in the notes section of the recipe.
Pumpkin Patch Pudding
Equipment
- Trifle dish
Ingredients
- 2 to 4 cups prepared vanilla pudding, chilled
- 2 to 4 cups prepared chocolate pudding, chilled
- 1 family-sized bag Oreos
- yellow and red food coloring (or orange, if you have it)
- Brack's pumpkins candy
- gummy worms
Instructions
- Place all of the Oreos in a gallon-sized ziplock bag, seal the bag, and crush the Oreos into small pieces.
- Use the food coloring to dye the vanilla pudding orange. The ratio of 6 yellow drops for every 2 red drops works very well. Keep adding food coloring until you are happy with the orange color. (You can skip this step if you would rather not dye the pudding.)
- Pour the prepared vanilla pudding into the trifle dish.
- Sprinkle about half of the crushed Oreos over the vanilla pudding and gently press it into the pudding.
- Pour the chocolate pudding over the vanilla pudding and Oreos.
- Sprinkle the remaining Oreos over the chocolate pudding, gently pressing them into the pudding.
- Decorate the top of the trifle dish with the pumpkin candies and gummy works. (You can also skip this step if you would rather have a Layered Oreo Pudding that isn't pumpkin-themed.)
Notes
- I used this Vanilla Pudding recipe from “Savory Simple.” It ended up being a little more than I needed, so you may consider halving the recipe.
- I used this Chocolate Pudding recipe from “Tastes of Lizzy T.” I did not add the red food coloring so that it was just a basic chocolate pudding instead of red velvet. I also added half a teaspoon of almond extract to make the flavor a little more interesting.
- This dessert does not need the candies on top – it is great without them too! In that case, it would just be “Layered Oreo Pudding.”
- You could also make this in a 9×13 pan.
