Sand Pudding Cups (Edible Ant Houses)

Sand pudding cups (also called Golden Oreo Dirt Pudding) are fun desserts for kids to make. They are like chocolate dirt cups, except a vanilla variation using lighter pudding and yellow cake cookies or graham crackers. Great for an easy snack for kids, bug themed snacks or easy pudding recipes!

RECIPE FOR SAND PUDDING CUPS

Sand pudding cups, or sand dirt cake, is usually made for a beach theme because they are dirt cups with vanilla pudding and yellow cookies.

We decided to change it up and make these as edible ant houses when we were doing a unit study about bugs.

However, you can make them into just sand pudding cups and add beach-y things to the top like small beach balls and drink umbrellas pushed into the cookie sand.

How To Make Sand Pudding Edible Ant Houses

If you’re looking for vanilla pudding recipes, this is a fun recipe that kids can make! 

We used lemon pudding (because that’s what my daughter requested), but you can use any light colored / yellow pudding like vanilla, banana pudding, or lemon.

These sand pudding parfaits aren’t layered like in even layers like regular parfaits. Instead, alternate the pudding and crushed cookies in different “blobs” into the glass to make it look like ant tunnels.

Here’s how to make pudding dessert cups that look like ant houses:

Yield: 6

Sand Pudding Ant Houses

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These sand pudding cups are good to pair up with books about ants or bugs, with insects study units, or bug theme parties!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups cold whole milk
• 1 package instant vanilla, lemon, or banana pudding (3.9 or 4 ounce package)
• 8 ounces frozen whipped topping (like Cool Whip), thawed
• 16 graham cracker squares* or golden sandwich cookies
• 1-2 Tablespoon chocolate sprinkles (for the "ants")

Instructions

1. Place graham crackers or cookies into a resealable bag. Seal bag. Using a wood mallet or spoon, crush graham crackers until fine.
2. Take out some plain crushed graham crackers and place in a bowl. Set aside. (This will be used as the plain sand topping after chilling the pudding cups.)
3. In the bag of crushed graham crackers, mix in chocolate sprinkles. Be sure to mix more chocolate sprinkles than graham crackers. (That’s the trick to getting the sprinkles to show through and look like ants crawling in the sand.) Set aside.
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk milk and pudding until pudding is dissolved. Set aside to thicken (about 5 minutes).
5. Once pudding has thickened, fold thawed whipped topping into the pudding. Stir.
6. In a small clear glass (like a juice glass), layer pudding and graham crackers/sprinkle mixture. The trick to making it look like an "ant city" is NOT to layer it in straight layers. Instead, start with a small layer of pudding on the bottom. Spoon a small amount of the graham cracker mixture against one portion of the side of the glass. Then, spoon a little more pudding and push more graham crackers to the other side of the glass. (See picture for visual.) Keep layering and end at top with pudding.
7. Chill for at least 60 minutes to set.
8. Remove from refrigerator and top with plain crushed graham crackers you set aside. Serve immediately.

Notes

*If you're making these as edible ant houses instead of just sand pudding cups, the graham crackers look better with the "ants" (chocolate sprinkles). You can also used crushed Vanilla ('Nila) wafers.

We like to wait until we remove the cups from the chilling step to add the graham cracker toppings. Sometimes, the graham crackers or cookies can get soggy during the chilling phase if you put them on first.

QUICK TIP: Want to make this super easy for a fast dessert or for toddler recipes? Use those prepackaged pudding packs!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 346Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 350mgCarbohydrates: 55gFiber: 2gSugar: 24gProtein: 7g

Nutrition information is estimated. Changes to the recipe and use of different brands may cause changes to the nutritional information to vary slightly from the ones provided here.

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BOOKS ABOUT BUGS FOR KIDS

If you’re study bugs or have a kid who loves bugs, this is a fun recipe to pair up with bug books! 

Try these children’s books:

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU DECIDED TO DO WITH YOUR SAND PUDDING CUPS: BEACH OR EDIBLE ANT HOUSE?