The oreo pudding parfaits recipe and post was shared with us by Julie of the Parenting Children with Special Needs Blog.
Are you challenged by desserts because of your child’s special diet? Me, too. Last year I made a milkless, eggless cake. And while it was “ok” – it truly wasn’t that yummy and no one, except the birthday girl, was interested in eating it. So I decided to try something else. LuLu, my daughter, and I concocted [dairy-free] cups of dirt to share with her friends for her birthday. You may be familiar with this, but if not…it’s a good party idea.
Our version is casein-free, so the pudding was made with rice milk instead of cow’s milk. And the basic recipe calls for Cool Whip, and I could find no casein-free substitute within 25 miles of our house (I’m guessing the health food store would have had one.) What might have worked, if our grocery had not been out would have been vanilla-flavored soy yogurt. But we had no options, so we just made the pudding.
Editor’s Note: Using dairy-free milk beverage to make instant pudding results in a liquid that doesn’t set up! But using canned coconut milk instead solves the problem. Most lite canned coconut milk will work perfectly. But if you want a thicker finish, use full-fat canned coconut milk.
Note: be sure to check the ingredients of the cookies and pudding you use, to ensure that they meet your special diet needs / allergies.
Recipe credit: Kraft Foods / Oreo
Special Diet Notes: Cups of Dirt – Oreo Pudding Parfaits
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, optionally vegan, and optionally vegetarian.
For vegan / vegetarian: use Surf Sweets sour gummy worms!
For gluten-free: use gluten-free sandwich cookies such as Glutino or KinniToos
- 1 large (5.9-ounce) package chocolate Jell-o instant pudding
- 3 cups lite canned coconut milk (not milk beverage; see post above)
- 1 package Oreo cookies, crushed
- Gummy worms or other gummy critters
- Make the instant pudding according to directions on package, using the lite canned coconut milk instead of dairy milk.
- Crush all the Oreos in a ziplock plastic bag (we did them in three batches to make sure they were crushed finely. We used both our hands and a rolling pin and released some major stress.)
- Stir about ⅔ of the Oreo crumbs into the pudding and spoon the mixture into cups. Top with the remaining crumbled cookies and garnish with a worm (or frog, or whatever critter you chose). Refrigerate until ready to serve.
But for these kids, having the worms visible will be an “oooouwwww” treat! Now for those who are avoiding all additives, food colorings, etc. (Such as those on the Feingold Diet), this wouldn’t work, because the gummy worms are loaded with colorings and artificial flavorings; and so is the chocolate pudding mix.
Cups of Sand Option: For a chocolate-free version, uses vanilla pudding and vanilla sandwhich cookies instead of the Oreos. Skip the gummy worms, and top with gummy fish instead! If desired, serve in a little beach pail with a shovel.
7 Comments
What is the whire layer in the cups. I havea recipe that callsforcream cheeses and 10x sugar layer
It’s a vanilla pudding layer.
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. Could almond milk be used for the pudding? I am planning on trying it with either coconut milk or goats milk, but we also have almond milk. My girls are sensitive to cow’s milk, but they can handle goats milk.
Hi April, it won’t set up with milk beverage (such as almond milk beverage, coconut milk beverage, etc). Lite coconut milk (in cans) is what I use for the best results. It’s should set up with goat’s milk, too, as I believe that would be similar in protein and fat content to cow’s milk. But I’ve never tried it myself!
Followed the direction on the package of Jello instant pudding, substituting rice milk. Rice milk did not allow the jello to set! Was a watery waste of $. And. FYI… it says right on the package, WILL NOT SET IF SOY MILK IS USED.
Yikes, I’m so sorry Sherri. This isn’t my recipe, it was contributed a decade ago by a woman named Julie – before I had personally done a bunch of Jell-O pudding tests (and before they had started putting that on the package!) so I didn’t think of it at the time. But you are right! This won’t work. I’m going to redo this post for spring / summer and put up a proper recipe. If you do need to make the pudding, use light coconut milk – not coconut milk beverage, but the type of lite coconut milk in small packages/cans in the Asian section. It works for pudding.
Thanks sooo much!! I’ll be making a Halloween version today for my nephews that are allergic to cows milk. They thank you too!! Lol. I’m glad i read the comments. 😁