Graveyard Cheesecake Parfaits

I’m so excited to introduce Karen from The Food Charlatan and she’s here to share a spooky treat with us…these adorable Graveyard Cheesecake Parfaits!

Hello, I Dig Pinterest readers! Halloween is just around the corner and I feel like I get more excited about it every single year. And that’s saying something, because who didn’t love Halloween as a kid? I mean, hello, an entire holiday about candy.

When my husband was little he and his older sisters used to play “candy gambling” every year after trick or treating. This is exactly what you are thinking it is. His older sisters mysteriously ended up with all the chocolate and Eric wound up with all the gross orange and black taffies. I still laugh every time I think about poor innocent little chocolate-less Eric.

My brother didn’t gamble with me, but one year he ate the Reeses Cup that I had been saving for Christmas morning. Yes, I saved my favorite piece of candy for 2 months just so that I could gift myself a Christmas present. Who does that? No wonder he ate it.

If you are throwing a Halloween party, these Graveyard Cheesecake Parfaits are a great make-ahead treat! They are a spook-ified version of these super easy No Bake Cheesecake Parfaits. You can make them a few hours or even a few days in advance, and they are totally adaptable to whatever candy you have on hand. I found the ghost peeps at Rite Aid, and made some really sophisticated tombstones out of graham crackers and frosting. Happy Halloween everyone!

{GRAVEYARD CHEESECAKE PARFAITS}

2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon vanilla, or 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

black or purple gel food coloring*

1 cup crushed Oreos

ghost peeps

candy pumpkins

graham crackers

white or black frosting

In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese on high until it is fluffy, at least 2 minutes, scraping the sides and bottom well.
Add the can of sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Add the food coloring. Use as much or as little as you want to get the desired color. (You will probably need more than you think, but start small just to be safe.) Beat well.
Crush the Oreos in a food processor (or smash them in a ziplock with a rolling pin).
In a clear glass, add layers of Oreo, cheesecake, and candy, if you want.
To make the graham tombstones, I just used a knife to cut a quarter of a graham cracker so that it was rounded on the edges. I added store bought frosting to a plastic bag and snipped of a tiny corner to pipe on the “RIP.” Be sure to use Oreo crumbs as your top layer so that it looks like graveyard dirt!
Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

*I used black gel food coloring and it came out purple. Still a Halloween color, I’ll take it. 🙂 Gel food coloring intensifies after even just a few minutes, so if you’re not sure about the color, give it a few minutes to see if it gets darker.

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I’m Karen! And I like to share my dinner with the internet, because that’s totally normal. Charlatan: someone who makes showy pretenses to pretended ability. Food Charlatan: A cook who likes to take pictures of her food, even though her kitchen (that you can’t quite make out in the background) looks like a 10 pound bag of flour exploded. Follow along on Facebook,Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter!

These are SO perfect, Karen! They’re getting me super excited for Halloween. I know my kids would love them. They will definitely be making a spooky appearance at our house soon. Thanks so much for being our guest and sharing your amazing talent with us today!

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