Holidays make me want to cook all the things. I don't know what it is but once the festive mood hits I'm in the kitchen. When we lived in California October was the month when I made our ghostly circle in the front yard, pumpkin pie milkshakes were weekend treats, roasted chicken with autumnal veggies were served at dinner, and this super simple (and delicious) dessert was whipped up while the children were doing homework.
Graveyard pie may not be the most appealing sounding name, but rest assured, it's that good. Call it Ghosts in the Graveyard Pie if it makes you feel better, then eat it and you'll be feeling great. Trust me, I know food. I'm southern-it's a part of our culture and we'll tell you if something isn't good...in a nice way.
Graveyard Pie
Ingredients
Crust:
16 graham crackers, broken into large pieces
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Pie:
1/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 3.4-ounce pkg instant chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
1 8-ounce tub whipped topping
1 14-ounce pkg chocolate sandwich cookies
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, process graham crackers until finely ground (you should have about 2 cups). With motor running, add butter in a slow, steady stream and pulse until combined. Firmly press crumb mixture into bottom and up the side of a 9 1/2-inch pie plate. Bake until the crust is dry and set, about 20 minutes. Let the crust cool completely for around 45 minutes.
Mix butter and softened cream cheese in mixer until thoroughly blended. Add powdered sugar and thoroughly incorporate until smooth and creamy. Note: sift the powdered sugar to prevent lumps when creaming everything together.
In separate bowl, whisk together pudding mixes and milk. Fold in whipped topping. Gently combine pudding mixture with cream cheese mixture. Once well blended spoon the combined mixture into your cooled graham cracker crust and top cookie crumbs. Keep refrigerated in between servings.
Now have some fun by adding cookie "headstones" and gummy creatures (like worms and bugs) to the top of your pie. I recommend Milano cookies since you can decorate them a bit more and the shape is excellent, but other good cookies are nilla wafers, graham crackers, Oreos-you can even use marshmallows as ghosts-skies the limit!
You can go as simple or as imaginative as you'd like and in the end it's a devilishly easy dessert for your Halloween season. Cheers!
