Chocolaty, single-serving-sized, made-from-scratch Ghosts in the Graveyard Treats. These are a perfect Halloween dessert made with an easy no-bake chocolate cheesecake filling and Oreo Cookie crumbs! Top them off with cookie “tombstones” and whipped cream “ghosts”!
Hi everyone! I originally shared this recipe over a year ago, but with Halloween a mere 11 days away, I thought you might appreciate a semi-spooky Halloween dessert.
Honestly, I’ve hardly done any preparation for Halloween this year (aside from making these spider cookies last month). Our neighborhood is decorated with Jack o’Lanterns, spooky ghosts, and faux-spiderweb covered hedges, and all I have are three miniature pumpkins rotting outside our front window. Not exactly festive.
I thought that the very least I could do to try and get into the Halloween spirit was resurrect these Ghost in the Graveyard Halloween Dessert Shooters, a (non-alcoholic) chocolate cheesecake treat.
My mom used to make “Ghosts in the Graveyard” when I was a kid, but it was done a little differently. The classic dessert is made in a 13×9 pan (at least, it was in our house), the graveyard constructed of pudding and topped with cookie crumbs, cookie tombstones, and ghosts.
I remember planting the Milano cookies in the pudding and then strategically carving out my slice of the “graveyard” so that I got both tombstone and ghost.
Given my affinity for mini desserts, and especially for dessert shooters, I individualized the dessert into adorable single-serving-sized portions.
I made these treats from scratch mimicking the same chocolate filling that I used for my sister’s birthday cookie dough pie, only using a heavier portion of chocolate and stirring in crumbled Oreos for a “dirtier” look.
It may seem like a lot of steps because you have to melt the chocolate separately, wait for it to cool, and whip the heavy cream at two different points, but it’s really pretty simple for a from-scratch Halloween dessert.
It’s worth every extra dish, but I also included notes in case you wanted to speed things up a bit and substitute Cool Whip (I’ve done this a time or two myself, but it’s definitely worth the extra effort to make from scratch!!).
Enjoy (and try not to look to closely at my ghosts in the background, they are sad specimen indeed)!
Full recipe just below the video.
Looking for another Halloween Dessert? Check out my adorable Spooky Spider Cookies!
Ghosts in the Graveyard Halloween Dessert Shooters
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (175g)
- 2 cups heavy cream divided (474 ml)
- 8 oz cream cheese softened (227g)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 28 Oreo Cookies pulverized in food processor
- 1 cup powdered sugar (200g)
Whipped Cream Ghosts**
- 1 cup heavy cream (237ml)
- ¾ cup powdered sugar (150g)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Other optional toppings
- 12 Milano sandwich cookies
- 1 tube Black premade frosting for writing
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup chocolate chips and ½ cup of the heavy cream over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until chocolate chips are completely melted and mixture is smooth.
- Remove from heat and pour into a heatproof bowl.
- Allow mixture to cool completely before continuing.
- In a clean, medium-sized bowl, use an electric mixer to beat remaining 1 ½ cups heavy cream to stiff peaks. Set aside.
- In bowl of stand mixer, combine cream cheese and (cooled) chocolate mixture, stirring until completely combined.
- Gradually add powdered sugar until completely combined. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
- Stir in vanilla extract and 1 ½ cups of the Oreo crumbs (reserve remaining crumbs to sprinkle over tops of shooters).
- Fold in whipped cream and then stir on low-speed until completely combined.
- Set out 24 disposable shot glasses.
- Pour mixture into large Ziploc bag, snip off one corner and pipe filling into shot glasses, filling about ¾½ full.
- Cover tops of each shooter with remaining Oreo crumbs.
- Prepare Milano cookies buy using black frosting to write "RIP" on upper half of cookie.
- Press Milano cookies firmly into half of the shooters so that only the half of the cookie reading "RIP" is protruding (like tombstones).
Ghosts
- Prepare whipped cream ghosts by combining heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in clean medium-sized bowl and whisking until stiff peaks form. (You may instead skip this step and use Cool Whip).
- Pour whipped cream (or Cool Whip)into large piping bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe ghost-shaped swirls on top of the remaininghalf of dessert shooters.
- Use black frosting to gently draw eyes and mouths on ghosts
- Serve & enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
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I originally posted this recipe 10/3/16, updated text and re-published 10/20/17
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Paige
I just made these for my husband to bring to work tomorrow and customized all of the milano ‘headstones’ with their military rank. I know that they will love them!
I have rated, loved, and use all of your recipes exclusively because you’re amazing, but just a heads up that in your instructions you listed to add the vanilla twice in the recipe and also what kind of chocolate chips you’d recommend to use in the recipe would also be helpful. Someone else commented and you said semi-sweet, but I had already gone ahead and used milk. I did save a few for myself as a treat because all of your recipes are ‘chefs’ kiss’
Sam
Thank you so much, Paige! I hope everyone loves them! 🙂
Belinda
How far in advance could you make this without the ghosts deflating? I’d like to take it for my work party, but am afraid the ghosts would deflate by the time we eat lunch.
Sam
Hi Belinda! The ghosts should stay in good shape for several days. Some times weird things happen, but if you are really worried, you can add them in the morning and they should be perfectly fine at lunch time. 🙂
Jessica
I made this for our Halloween party and it was a hit! I’ve been requested to make it for a Halloween-themed wedding this year in a 9X13 form. Will this recipe translate to that size or should it be adjusted?
Sam
Hi Jessica! It could certainly be made in a pan, although it will be a bit messier. Honestly I’m not sure how much this would fill as I haven’t made it in anything but the shooter cups. 🙁
Amelia
Hi Sam,
Do you use semi sweet or milk chocolate chips? Thanks!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Semi-sweet! Let us know how you like them, Amelia!
Christie
Thank you!! Great recipe. These were a hit for the adults and kiddos. I had every intention of making the ghosts but ran out of time, so all tombstones this go around. I’d post a pic but I don’t see that that is an option. They were super cute though. I did sub and use glass yogurt jars I’ve been collecting. We eat a lot of yogurt so I have about 100 saved up just for this. 😉
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much! I am so glad that you enjoyed the Halloween Dessert Shooters, Christie! If you’re on Instagram and would like to share a photo, you can tag @sugarspunrun. Thanks for commenting. 🙂