We made this originally as a project for Gilly and Rowan, two of my grandkids. But we quickly realized the adults devoured it just as much (maybe more) than the kids. So I’m thinking it might be a great choice to take to a cruiser potluck. It’s easy and quick and I’m pretty sure I could wedge the sand bucket into my boat fridge to chill. The only downside is the vanilla wafer/oreo layer gets soggy after a day or two, but it rarely lasts that long! It’s pretty rich for pudding, I may experiment with leaving out the cream cheese … or maybe not. 🙂 I got the original idea from a Facebook post … here’s the original recipe. And here’s my version, along with photos of the fun involved in making it!
Step 1: Assemble the ingredients:
4 oreos
1 box vanilla wafers
8 ounces cream cheese – softened
1/4 cup butter – softened
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 small packages of French Vanilla Pudding – instant
2 3/4 cup milk
12 ounces Cool Whip — I only used about half
Step 2: Whip together the pudding mix and milk. Chill while crushing the “sand”.
Step 3: Crush the vanilla wafers and oreos together to make the “sand”. We used the same small food processor that we have on the boat, but if you don’t have a food processor aboard, a rolling pin would accomplish the same result (or a wine bottle for that matter).
Step 4: Whip the softened cream cheese and butter into the pudding mixture. Then add the powdered sugar and cool whip. Yum! It takes a bit of mixing to get the lumps out … perfect for taking turns and making sure each grandkiddo gets a chance to use the mixer.
Step 5: Then add a layer of “sand”.
Step 6: Continue layering until the sand bucket is full of sand and pudding layers.
Step 7: Chill … or not, as you prefer….
Yum yum yum! I’m planning on taking a bucket to the next cruiser potluck we attend (along with some small paper plates or bowls and plastic spoons) — a little more trouble, but guaranteed crowd pleaser! Anyone have different versions of sand pudding? Please leave a comment and share! Any more fun ideas for us to fix with the grandkids (ages 4 & 5)? Can’t wait until they come visit on the boat and we can introduce them to the fun of cruising (i.e. away from the dock!). Cheers! Jan
