Take A Nostalgic Trip With Some Classic 'Dirt Pudding'

If you could time travel back to a place and time when excitement around food was spurred by endless colors, textures, and flavors, a family party in the 1980s would be a safe bet. The extra decades between then and now have made way for more refined, sophisticated recipes, but many of us still have a special place in our stomachs for chewy Rice Krispies treats, JELL-O jigglers, and of course, dirt pudding.

Besides the childhood breakfasts you forgot existed, birthday parties, especially in the second half of the 20th century, were laden not only with birthday cake ice cream cones and Pop Rocks but also individualized trifle cups of pudding and cookies made to resemble garden soil. Classic dirt pudding has no definitive origin in history, except that the layered dessert became popular sometime in the American Midwest during the 1980s. Some historians believe it was spurred from late variations of classic Mississippi mud pie, which typically contains some combination of crushed chocolate cookies, butter, and softened ice cream. Regardless, dirt pudding is one nostalgic dessert many of us remember from childhood. What better way to embrace another Spring season other than by remaking this classic retro recipe with some extra seasonal flair?

Making a childhood classic couldn't be easier when dirt dessert is on the menu since this iconic recipe takes just a handful of affordable ingredients and some creativity for a unique twist. While the first noted recipe for dirt cake in 1988 contained significant amounts of cream cheese and Cool Whip, you can recreate your own dirt pudding using one or both of these ingredients as long as you have instant pudding mix handy.

Pudding mix and milk are typically mixed with whipped topping and then layered in a large rectangular baking dish with crushed chocolate sandwich cookies mixed with butter to resemble the dirt portion. To make individualized trifles, make your instant pudding mixture and layer it with the crumbled cookies in clear plastic cups. To make this dessert even more realistic, feel free to try Southern Living's addition of candy-covered strawberries made to look like garden carrots. Once your single-serve dirt dessert cups are assembled, melt orange candy melts and dip the strawberries. You can even add extra ribbons of icing to set strawberries to make them look more like real carrots. Then top your dirt cups each with a strawberry carrot and of course, classic gummy worms. However, adding carrot-like strawberries isn't the only way you can elevate this childhood classic. Sure enough, there are many creative ways to upgrade dirt pudding.

Dirt pudding may very well fall into the category of vintage recipes no one makes anymore but should. Why can't adults unabashedly indulge in the creamy chocolate-based pudding with hidden crushed cookies? While truthfully, you can eat whatever you want, if you want a more modest recipe for a crowd of adults, feel free to make a larger portion of this iconic dessert and layer the ingredients in a large serving bowl, just like traditional banana pudding. Friends and family will appreciate seeing the layered ingredients and it doesn't look specially made for kids when presented in a large glass trifle bowl.

If you want to go in the opposite direction and make this dessert even more outlandish and creative for a special event, like a baby shower or themed birthday party, your options to align your homemade dirt pudding to planned festivities are endless. For a more Spring-themed celebration, On My Kid's Plate suggests serving dirt pudding in clean terra cotta pots. If you're looking to create a summery dessert, you can make blue-dyed vanilla pudding with crushed vanilla sandwich cookies instead to look like a sandy beach near the ocean. No matter which way you decide to recreate this nostalgic dessert, one thing should be made clear: dirt pudding is not just for kids.