Peanut Butter Cup and Oreo Dirt Cake

I know we’re all supposed to be busting out our fall, full-of-pumpkin recipes right now, but today I just really wanted good old chocolate and peanut butter.  And I decided if I was going to go for it, I was really going to go for it.

So I started brainstorming and came up with a peanut butter cup and Oreo dirt cake. It’s full of sugar and awesome peanut butter flavor. It’s basically four layers of deliciousness.

At first glance, with all the steps, it seems complicated, but it isn’t. It all came together really fast. And I didn’t even destroy the kitchen in the process. A true miracle.

Ingredients

Oreo Layer:

• 30 Oreo cookies
• 3 tbs butter

Peanut Butter Layer:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 15-20 mini peanut butter cups

Pudding Layer: 

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 3/4 cup cold milk
• 1 3.9 oz box instant chocolate pudding mix

Whipped Cream Layer:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 6-7 tbs powdered sugar

Directions

Oreo Layer:

1. Finely crush Oreos in a food processor, or take things old school and crush them up in a ziploc bag. Reserve 1/2 cup of the Oreo crumbs for your topping.
2. Melt butter and combine with remaining Oreo crumbs and press into the bottom of an un-greased 8×8 baking dish.

Peanut Butter Layer:

1. Unwrap and coarsely chop the peanut butter cups. Set aside.
2. With a mixer, cream together peanut butter and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar and continue mixing until combined.
3. Spread the peanut butter mixture evenly over the Oreo crust, then top with chopped peanut butter cups.

Pudding Layer:

1. Whisk together pudding and milk for two minutes, until the pudding begins to firm. Add powdered sugar and continue whisking until everything is combined.
2. Pour pudding over the top of the peanut butter layer, using a spatula to spread evenly.
3. Optional: Place in the fridge for 1-2 hours to allow the pudding to continue to firm up.

Whipped Cream Layer:

1. Place a metal bowl and whisk (or whisk attachment for your mixer) into the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
2. Once your bowl and whisk are ice cold, add heavy cream and powdered sugar and whisk until stiff peaks begin to form.
3. Spread over the top of the pudding layer, then sprinkle on the Oreos you reserved from earlier.

If you don’t want to go through the trouble of making your own whipped cream, feel free to just use a store bought whipped topping. Let that tub thaw and spread it on top. It’ll still taste delicious, and will save you a couple extra steps.

I pretty much ate a giant piece of it for dinner. I’m not sorry.