Ghosts in the Graveyard

This recipe was posted in response to a request for Halloween desserts. My birthday is on Halloween, and my mom made this adorable dessert many times for my birthday parties as a child. Feel free to be as elaborate as you like with the graveyard "decorations". There's lots of fun candy out there to experiment with. I hope you and your family enjoy this as much as I did! Cook time is chill time.

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Serves: 16

Ingredients

• 15  Oreo cookies
• 3  cups  cold milk
• 2 (3 1/2ounce) packages instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 (8 ounce) container Cool Whip, thawed

• Graveyard decorations

•  oval shaped  vanilla cookies (to be used as the headstones Nabisco or Pepperidge Farm Milano work well!)
•  candy corn or   candy corn, pupmkins
•  gummy worms
•  tubes of decorating  icing (orange, red and brown are nice)

Directions

1. Crush the oreo cookies in a plastic bag using a rolling pin, or in a food processor.
2. Pour milk into large bowl.
3. Add pudding mixes.
4. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes or until well blended.
5. Let pudding stand 5 minutes.
6. Gently stir in 1/2 each of the whipped topping and crushed cookies.
7. Spoon into 13x9-inch dish; sprinkle with remaining crushed cookies to be the"dirt" of the graveyard.
8. Refrigerate for at least an hour or until ready to serve.
9. Decorate the remaining cookies with assorted icings to resemble tombstones,"RIP" and"BOO" are nice sayings; stand up cookies in top of dessert like graves.
10. Add candies and plastic"scary" creatures, if using.
11. Drop remaining whipped topping by spoonfuls onto dessert to resemble ghosts.
12. What works best is to make the cool-whip"ghosts" ahead on a cookie sheet and store them in the freezer until ready to use.
13. That way they don't flop over.
14. Two or three small, round dollups of cool-whip (like a snowman) make nice looking ghosts.
15. You should be able to make 2 or 3 ghosts.
16. Remove"ghosts" from the freezer and give them"eyes" and a"mouth" using the brown decorating icing.
17. Place"ghosts" in the graveyard.
18. Small plastic spiders, cobwebs, or mini monsters are a nice addition too.
19. To serve, just scoop out into bowls.
20. Store leftover dessert in refrigerator.