It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog post featuring a recipe, and I just couldn’t help but post this one on a day like today – April Fools’ Day! If you’re one for playing practical jokes, this one is on the very mild end of the spectrum, but it’s perfect for families with little ones who might enjoy a tasty dessert after the joke’s up.
Start by making sure you have all the ingredients you need for this deviously delicious treat.
You’ll need:
- carton of strawberries
- orange candy melts
- package of chocolate sandwich cookies
- whipped topping
- cream cheese
- powdered sugar
- butter
- flour
- milk
- instant pudding mix (vanilla or cookies & cream)
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.
You’ll first make the crust. Soften 1 stick of butter and mix in 1 cup of flour in a bowl. Press and spread the mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 15 minutes and afterwards let cool completely.
Meanwhile in a separate bowl, mix together 1/2 c. butter, 8 oz. softened cream cheese and 1/2 c. powdered sugar. Set aside.
In another bowl, mix together the pudding mix (two 4 oz. boxes) with 3.5 cups of cold milk. We used cookies and cream flavor instead of plain vanilla. Use an electric mixer unless you want your arm to go numb in the process! Chill in the refrigerator for 5 minutes.
Then fold your pudding mixture into the thawed whipped topping and add it to your cream cheese mixture.
In a big plastic zip bag you will empty your chocolate sandwich cookies and grab a rolling pin.
It’s a good way to get some aggression out — or put a dent in your floor! But either way you need to smash those cookies into crumbs!
Then you will begin layering your dessert over the cooled crust. One layer of the cream pudding mixture followed by a layer of crushed cookies, and so on & so forth until you reach the top of the pan. The very last layer on the top should be a layer of the crushed cookies, so it looks just like….you guessed it…dirt!
The last step is making your strawberries “turn into” carrots. Wash & dry a tub of fresh strawberries.
Then take some orange candy melts – found in the baking aisle of most department stores – and melt them down in the microwave, using 30 second intervals. Once they are melted smooth, get ready to start dipping!
Take one strawberry at a time and dip the bottom half into the melted orange chocolate. Be careful to leave your green stem out of it! You want the illusion that you have a small orange carrot.
Once all strawberries are dipped, you can let them set & dry on a cooling rack. When they are finished drying, the final step is adding them to your dirt cake!
Poke each one down into the top layer of the cake until just the top stems of the strawberries are peeking out. You’ve successfully made your very own “carrot garden” dirt cake!
Ingredients
- Crust:
- 1 stick of butter, softened
- 1 cup flour
- Filling:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 c. powdered sugar
- 2 (3.5 oz.) packages instant vanilla or cookies & cream pudding mix
- 3.5 cups milk
- 12 oz. Cool Whip topping
- 32 oz. chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
- 1 carton fresh strawberries
- 1 package orange vanilla candy melts
Instructions
- For Crust:
- Mix 1 c. flour with 1 stick of softened butter.
- Press into bottom of 9x13 pan.
- Bake for 15 min. at 350 degrees. Cool completely.
- For Filling:
- Mix 1/2 c. softened butter, 8 oz. softened cream cheese, 1/2 c. powdered sugar.
- In separate bowl mix together cold milk and pudding mix. Use electric hand mixer 4-5 minutes. Chill for 5 minutes in fridge.
- Crush cookies in ziplock bag with a rolling pin.
- Mix filling mixture with chilled pudding and fold in Cool Whip.
- Layer this mixture and crushed cookies alternatively on top of crust in 9x13 pan. Top layer should be crushed cookies.
- Wash & dry strawberries.
- Melt orange chocolate candy melts in microwave at 30 sec. intervals.
- Dip strawberries into melted orange chocolate. Let dry on cooling rack.
- Stick dipped strawberries into the top of the dirt cake.
- Chill until ready to serve.
Enjoy plucking a carrot out, eating it and scooping up a big helping of the dirt along with it! Yum, Yum!
If your kids are little enough, they just might fall for this cute little April Fools’ Day trick. If not, well, then at least you have a delicious treat left over to enjoy with them!
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