My lifetime of Halloweens has been a series of epic costume fails. To redeem my dismal history, I’m dressing up my dip instead. Graveyard Chocolate Cheesecake Dip is lookin’ spooktacular and ready to party.
When I was younger, Halloween was not an issue—with little kids, the “cute” card trumps all. Reference: my younger sister Elizabeth and I, circa 1992.
As we age, Halloween costumes become more problematic, as epitomized by my sixth grade dance. While most of the girls in my class wisely dressed as sexy French maids and members of the feline genus, I was too preoccupied writing to my pen pal in Ireland to strategize a socially acceptable Halloween ensemble. This was the result:
Could a similar Mean Girls costume party scene be based on my life?
Other memorable costumes included the Halloween I forget about (another) middle school costume dance until the last minute and was forced to improvise with my little sister’s fairy princess costume. Note to all potential fairy princesses: fitting into a bathroom stall with mesh wings is tricky business. The year I wore an authentic pair of leather chaps, complete with the breeze in the back, was also a poor choice, if for no other reason than it garnered the wrong kind of attention.
Nearly two decades later, I’m just as terrible about planning my costumes, mostly because I’ve been holding out hope that I’ll find five other willing bodies to dress as the characters in the board game Clue with me. (Dibs on Miss Scarlet!). Until that glorious day arrives, I’ve decided not to stress about the dress and focus instead on a more attainable Halloween dream: graveyard chocolate cheesecake dip.
Fun and Festive Graveyard Cheesecake Dip
The base of this dip tastes like fudgy brownie batter and chocolate cheesecake combined. Spoon licking is welcome and encouraged.
A layer of crushed Oreos forms the graveyard “dirt,” and a scattering of candy corn adds a festive effect. This dip also gave me an ironclad excuse to buy the candy corn mini-pumpkins, which I find simultaneously excessively sweet and insanely addictive. It’s a conflict best pondered over this dip.
The graveyard “tombstones” are vanilla chocolate sandwich cookies (I used dark chocolate Milanos), with some arts and crafts frosting-action. I’m the least craft-inclined person I know, and I managed three little letters. You can too!
Stand the tombstones in the dirt, scatter a bit of candy corn about in an artistic manner, and step back to admire your work. This dip is dressed to impress!
Make Ahead and Storage Tips
- To Make Ahead. Prepare the dip through Step 1 a few hours in advance, then cover and store it in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, top with the cookies and decorations.
- To Store. Cover leftover dip, and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More Spooktacular Halloween Recipes
- Halloween Sangria
- Chocolate Orange Party Mix
- Halloween Banana Popsicles
- Sweet and Salty Halloween Chex Mix
- Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies
Final note: I’ll make every willing member of my dream Clue Halloween cast their own personal dish of chocolate cheesecake graveyard dip, with a bag of mini pumpkins on the side, in exchange for dressing up with me. Who’s in?
Graveyard Chocolate Cheesecake Dip
Ingredients
Chocolate Cheesecake Dip:
- 1 package cream cheese (8 ounces) at room temperature
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick) at room temperature
- 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 cups sifted powdered sugar plus 2 tablespoons
To Decorate and Serve:
- Crushed chocolate cream sandwich cookies enough to cover the dip (about 10)
- Vanilla sandwich cookies such as Milanos
- Black decorating icing
- Candy corn and pumpkins
- Graham crackers, apple slices, and/or pretzels, for serving
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So cute!!! Both the dip and the Halloween pics :) I think you looked pretty cool in the 6th grade one, if I do say so myself.
Oh the days of young halloween costumes…I have a similar one. I wanted to be an Indian. One minor issue. It was freezing that year so a coat went underneath my cloak; I was a marshmallow Indian Man. You could have just rolled me from house to house….
Erin, you are the cutest!! oh my gawd, loved seeing those photos!! and love this graveyard dip!!! too cute!!
This is such a great idea and I LOVE seeing old photos like that! Cuties!
:-) I think that was one of our best-dressed years! Thank you so much Kristen.
Ok, it’s the gravestones that puts this dip over the top. I mean, you must be high-fiving yourself, they are waaaaaaaay to cute. My kids are gonna love making this with me. Who cares they can’t spell, or really read? oh well.
Cutest costume photos, to funny. And my husband has flatly refused to buy me the Anna Frozen gown for $300 on Amazon. Flatly refused I tell you! I think he’s being a little unreasonable. And in exchange, he won’t wear his banana costume this year! Ridiculous. Although he dressed as Prince Charming last year WITH the stockings, didn’t fight too hard on the stockings either……I think we’re moving in the right direction.
You are totally rockin those halloween outfits. What a great dip and I’m off to go check it out.
I will dress up in anything crazy to score a bowl of this dip! YUM! Besides, I’ve been trying to talk my daughter to go trick or treating with me and she says she’s too old – when did 15 become too old to trick or treat? Or is it me?
I think your 6th grade Halloween outfit ROCKED!
You are totally the cutest! Thinking about my childhood costumes makes me cringe. This dip is so adorable….such a fun idea!
Oh my goodness I love these flashback pictures. You need to find a way to incorporate more into your posts, they’re just adorable. And how cute is this dip?!
Oh my gosh, this cheesecake dip is simply adorable! Love the blast from the past, too!
I totally suck at dressing up for Halloween so I’m really digging this “Dress up your dip” !!! Looks amazing!
I’m glad I’m not the only one Julie! Let’s just hover around the dip bowl instead ;-)
haha oh man I’m the same way – I am horribleeee at coming up with costumes. So I just don’t anymore :) lol much prefer cooking for it anyway!
Love this dip – it’s so fun!
I don’t even dress up for Halloween anymore! If I’m invited to a party, I’ll haphazardly throw together a mock Britney Spears outfit or slap on a pair of black jeans, black tank top and call myself a cat. (And p.s. I totally dressed up as a french maid in the seventh grade, and the pictures are embarrassingly HORRIFYING.)
Can I be Miss Peacock?! Absolutely loving this dip…fun and delicious!
YES!!!!!! Then we can rope in our hubbies, and we just need two more. I like how this is shaping up…
i’m assuming this dip is for fruit??
Yes Theresa! It’s great with pretzels too.
Wow this graveyard cheesecake dip looks incredible! Even though Halloween is not that big here in Australia, it’s definitely a recipe I have saved to recreate. Love your pics too!
Darling pictures. I lived on a farm. So trick or treating didn’t really happen to me. I had a terrible time coming up with costumes for my kids! BUT this dip—that looks so good if I was a dog (thinking costumes here) I would have an excuse to roll in it.
LOL Carol! That may be the most unique compliment I have ever received about a dish, and I love it! Thank you so much.
So creative! Looks awesome! I wasn’t really big into dressing up for Halloween until we started going to our friend’s annual Halloween party- it is a costume required party and we learned out lesson the first year in not really “dressing up”.
I would totally dress up as the people from Clue with you! Love that idea! This is adorable. My kids would love it!
YES! Now we just need four more and our cast will be complete ;-) Thanks Amanda!
Oh Gosh… they are so cute! What a great idea, Erin! Love those!!
OMG Erin, you are adorable..I heart your photos and the graveyard dip, so cool. My office is doing an afternoon halloween party thing, Australians don’t really do Halloween, so thats why we are doing arvo tea. :) Anyways, thanks for the cute idea. You rock!
Hehe you are too adorable girl :) Loved the costumes and this dip! So fun and festive :)
This is too cute! I’m hosting a Halloween dinner party and this would be a fun dessert! I also totally fail at costumes. My worst was the year I decided to wear all white with a yellow circle on my stomach and devil horns–a deviled eggs. ;)
That is so cute!!!
I’ve never made anything for Halloween, so I’ve been wanting to make something cute and fun this year!
{Teffy’s Perks} X
Such a great idea for this dip Erin! I love chocolate cheesecake dip and will try it, even if I don’t have tome to decorate it. Pictures are amazing !
This is adoooorable!!
hahahahhaa! I love those old pics!
Want to make this, but the ingredient list calls for extra fine granulated sugar and the directions say brown sugar. Which is correct?
Hi Jean! It should be brown sugar (I used light brown, but light or dark would be just fine). Sorry for the confusion! I’ll work on making sure this is updated ASAP. Thanks for letting me know!
Erin, this is such a cute idea. I may try it this weekend.
What do you use to dip? Cookies or pretzels or what? Thank you
Kathleen, I love graham crackers but pretzels would be yummy too! You could also do strawberries.
If you leave out the cocoa powder would this just taste like regular cheesecake dip or would anything else need to be added to it?
Hi Katie! I’ve only tested the dip as written, so anything else would be an experiment. If you decide to play around with it, I’d love to hear how it goes! You may also want to check out my Caramel Apple Cheesecake Dip.
I know I’m late to the game here, but this is so adorable! This will be a great recipe to make with my kids, and they will love the idea of dipping treats in a treat! Also, I thought I was the only one in LOVE with Clue, and I’ve never thought about dressing up as the characters! I think I’m going to have to arrange for my family to do that next year!! Thanks for the great content and ideas! :)
You’re welcome Ashley! Thank you!