Dairy-Free Dirt Pudding

One of the things I pride myself on is finding ways to eat my favorite treats without suffering the wrath of dairy. This week I took on pudding and whipped topping in one go. I loved dirt pudding as a kid and while I prefer straight pudding as an adult, I couldn't pass up the chance to give this childhood favorite a spooky makeover. 

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Dairy-Free Dirt Pudding

Ingredients:

• Pudding
• 2 packets dairy-free pudding mix
• 4 cups alternative milk
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• vegan whipped cream
• aquafaba from 1 can of chickpeas 
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 family size package of double stuff Oreos
• 2-4 tablespoons coconut milk
• sour/normal gummy worms
• skulls and bones candy corns
• zombie cake decorations

Directions:

1. Make the pudding:
1. First carefully inspect the box of pudding mix. It may have "will not set with non-dairy milk" in very small print. But don't despair! If it doesn't have this message you may be able to make the pudding as directed. If not, follow the next step.
2. Place your milk, pudding mix, and starch in a pot over medium heat. 
3. Mix them together thoroughly while the mix is still cold.
4. Bring to a boil for ~3 minutes and remove when the mixture begins to thicken.
5. Place in the fridge and chill overnight.
2. Make the vegan whipped topping:
1. In a pot over medium heat, mix the aquafaba, cream of tartar, and powdered sugar.
2. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3-5 minutes.
3. Immediately transfer this mixture to a stand mixer and beat to stiff peaks. Your stand mixer manual should tell you the best settings for making whipped desserts. On mine it was settings 9 or 10.
4. While that whipped, stir vanilla extract into the coconut cream and set aside
5. Once you have stiff peaks, take a large scoop of the whipped mix and fold it into the coconut cream. The cream should be fluffier after.
6. Now transfer the coconut cream back into the whipped aquafaba and fold it in.
7. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
3. Make Oreo toppings.
1. Separate the Oreo cookies from their filling and place them in separate bowls.
2. Using a bag and rolling pin, crush the cookies into crumbs.
3. Place the oreo cream into a blender with a small amount of coconut milk and green food dye then blitz. 
4. Transfer the fluff to a plastic bag and freeze for 1 hour.
4. Assemble
1. Place a generous amount of set pudding in the bottom of the bowl and place a few gummy worms or candies over top.
2. Sprinkle cookie crumbs over the layer.
3. Cover with a thick portion of vegan whipped topping and add more candies.
4. Again, cover with cookie crumbs.
5. Spoon your remaining pudding on top and cover once more with cookie crumbs so no pudding shows through.
6. Using a piping nozzle, pipe the half frozen Oreo cream into the cookies crumbs to imitate grass. Make sure to leave patches of cookie showing.
7. Place the zombie cake decorations on the cookie crumbs so they appear to be reaching out of the dirt.
8. Chill in the fridge until serving. I find that setting it in the freezer for 20-60 minutes and then transferring to the fridge until serving allows it to look better longer.