Dinosaur Dirt Cups are cute, easy, and a fun dessert for your next dinosaur-themed party. The double chocolate pudding is homemade from scratch. Make the pudding the day before the party to save time and let the kids add the dirt and dinos. Try my Monster Cupcakes or Unicorn Cupcakes for more kids’ party treats.
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SIS Simple is Smart Tip for Dino Dirt Cups. Use a piping bag to fill the mini dessert cups with the pudding. It’s fast, simple, and mess-free.
What do I need for the Dino Dirt Cups?
For the Pudding:
Whole Milk: Use whole milk or 2%. Don’t use skim milk.
Egg Yolks, salt, and granulated sugar.
Cornstarch: This is the thickener for the pudding.
Semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate pieces.
Cocoa Powder – Unsweetened cocoa powder. Use Dutch process cocoa powder.
Butter- either unsalted or salted is ok.
Whipping Cream and Vanilla. Make sure you use heavy whipping cream.
For the Topping:
Gummy Dinosaurs These can be hard to find, so I’ve included a link to them on Amazon. Chocolate sandwich cookies. I used Oreos, but any chocolate sandwich cookie will work.
Let’s Make the Dino Dirt Cups:
To make the chocolate pudding whisk together egg yolks, 1/4 cup of milk, and 2 tbsp cornstarch. Use a medium bowl to give you room to temper the eggs.
Add the rest of the milk, salt, cocoa powder, and sugar to a medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the mixture is 180 – 190 degrees F. The milk will have little bubbles around the edges. Don’t boil the milk.
Tempering the Eggs: Heats the eggs slowly so they don’t scramble when you add the egg yolk mixture to the hot milk mixture. To temper the eggs, gradually add about 4-5 ladles of the hot milk mixture to the egg yolks. Whisk the egg yolks as you drizzle the hot milk into the bowl. Then add the warmed eggs back into the rest of the scalded milk.
Return the saucepan to the burner. On medium heat, cook until the mixture thickens. Stir to keep it from scorching.
Remove the saucepan from the burner and stir in the chocolate pieces and the butter. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Press the plastic wrap onto the top of the pudding to keep it from forming skin. Refrigerate until chilled, about four hours.
Finish the Pudding: Whip the cup of heavy cream with the vanilla until stiff peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the chilled pudding. Mix until the whipped cream is no longer visible.
Fill the Dessert Cups: Use a two-ounce dessert cup. Pipe the pudding into the dessert cups. Leave enough room for the “dirt.”
Topping the Dirt Cups:
Crush up whole Chocolate Sandwith Cookies. I used Oreo cookies. Add about 1 tbsp of the crushed cookies on top of the pudding to make the dirt. Add a gummy Dinosaur.
Make ahead: The pudding can be made several days before serving. When you are ready to serve, add the whipped cream and top with the dirt and Gummy Dino’s. Gummy worms are also a fun topper.
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Dinosaur Dirt Cups
Equipment
- NOTE: To CONVERT TO METRIC UNITS click the word METRIC at the end of the ingredient list.
- 24 mini 2 ounce dessert cups
- This page contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click a link, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk (divided) 1¾ cup and ¼ cup.
- 2 tbsp. cornstarch
- 2 egg yolks
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ tsp vanilla
Topping
- 24 chocolate sandwich cookies crushed
- 24 gummy dinosaurs
Instructions
- In a medium size bowl, add ¼ cup of the milk and the 2 tbsp. cornstarch to the egg yolks. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, Add the rest of the milk, the sugar, salt, and cocoa powder.
- While stirring, heat on medium until the mixture is 180 - 190 degrees. This is scalding temperature. You don't want to boil the mixture. Remove from the heat.
- Slowly drizzle the hot mixture into the egg yolks. This tempers the yolks and keeps them from scrambling. Drizzle about 4-5 ladles full of the hot cocoa mixture into the egg mixture.
- Return the mixture to the burner and cook on medium until thick and bubbly.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips and butter until melted and incorporated.
- Pour the warm pudding into a heat-proof bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Press the plastic wrap down on the pudding. The plastic wrap keeps the pudding from forming a skin. Refrigerate for four hours or longer.
- Once the pudding is chilled. Whip the whipping cream with the vanilla until stiff peaks form.
- Fold the whipping cream into the chilled pudding until no whipping cream is visible.
- Pipe the pudding into the 2-ounce dessert cups. Leave enough room for the "dirt cookies"
Topping
- Crush 24 chocolate sandwich cookies and add the crushed cookies to the top of the pudding. Top with a gummy dinosaur. Serve immediately
Video
Notes
