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These Boston Cream Pie Cookie Cups are made with a vanilla cookie base, custard filling and chocolate ganache topping! They are delicious and such fun little cookies to bite into!
Depending on where you are in the country (or world), you may or may not have spent a good part of the weekend glued to the TV watching everything happening with Hurricane Irma. We were anxiously waiting to see the final path it’d take and see how it affected Miami and the different coasts of Florida.
We’ve actually had some houseguests from Miami since Friday. Some friends of ours were able to make it out on a flight to Chicago, but their family didn’t make it so they drove up to our house. We’ve got 4 adults and 3 dogs weathering out the storm here with us in Atlanta. They were of course relieved to see that the hit on Miami wasn’t quite as direct as predicted. It’s been crazy watching all the devastation from the storm around Florida though – especially right after watching Hurricane Harvey rip through Houston and the surrounding areas. My heart just goes out to everyone affected.
So today, we are waiting to see what Irma has in store for us in Atlanta. Despite forecasts that it’ll be much calmer – a tropical storm – people around here have wiped the store shelves of bread and water. Having lived in Fort Lauderdale, FL for several years after college, we’re a little more familiar with tropical storms and hurricanes, so we aren’t quite so worried. Hopefully we aren’t wrong on that one. Atlanta is certainly not a place that is used to weird weather like hurricanes or snow/ice (hello, Snowmageddon from a few years ago), so you never know. We shall see!
How to Make these Boston Cream Pie Cookies
For now I’m going to share these Boston Cream Pie Cookie Cups and pretend all is right in the world.
These cookie cups start out with a vanilla cookie base for the cup. It’s soft, chewy and delicious. Perfect for filling. You make the cookie dough and then bake it in a regular sized cupcake pan. I press the centers down a little bit before baking them, but then use the underside of a round measuring tablespoon to press the centers down again after baking. It gives them the perfect little cup shape to fill later.
The cookies may look a touch underdone in the center when you take them out of the oven, but that’s ok. They’ll continue to bake as they cool. Plus, since you don’t want them to fall apart when you remove them from the pan, I actually let them cool mostly in the pan. The residual heat definitely helps to bake them a little more and they come out easily when cooled, just be sure to spray the pan before you add the cookie dough and bake them.
The filling is your classic vanilla pastry cream. Pastry cream has quickly become one of my favorite things. It really isn’t hard to make and it’s just so darn tasty. In this case, it goes wonderfully with a soft, chewy cookie!
The final element is the topping – a delicious chocolate ganache. Make the ganache and let it firm up in the fridge so it can be piped on top. If you find that it’s a touch firm after refrigerating, let it warm up a bit on the counter or microwave it for 5-ish seconds at a time until it seems like a good piping consistency.
Fill the cookies with the pastry cream, top with the ganache and you’ve got the most adorable little treats to serve! We were definitely big fans of them so I hope you are too!
PrintBoston Cream Pie Cookie Cups
- Prep Time: 4 hours
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours 12 minutes
- Yield: 18 Cookie Cups
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Boston Cream Pie Cookie Cups made with a vanilla cookie base, custard filling and chocolate ganache topping! They’re easy cookies that are so fun to eat!
Ingredients
VANILLA COOKIE CUPS
- 3/4 cups (168g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (207g) sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
VANILLA PASTRY CREAM
- 2 egg yolks
- 6 tbsp (78g) sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
- 1 tbsp (14g) salted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- 6 oz (169g) semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 7 tbsp (105ml) heavy whipping cream
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Spray a regular sized cupcake pan with non stick cooking spray.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
3. Mix in egg and vanilla extract.
4. Combine the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt in a medium sized bowl, then add to the butter mixture. Mix until well combined and a dough forms. Dough will be thick and a bit sticky.
5. Makes balls of about 2 tbsp of dough. Press cookie dough into the bottom and about 1/3-1/2 way up the sides of each cupcake cup, forming a cup shape.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are just golden. If they look a little undercooked in the center, that’s ok. They’ll continue to bake as they cool and firm up.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool mostly in the pans, then remove to a cooling rack. If the centers aren’t cupped enough, use the bottom of a tablespoon to press the center down a bit while still warm.
8. While the cookies cool, make the pastry cream. Put the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl and gently beat them together. Set aside.
9. Add the sugar, cornstarch and milk to a large saucepan and mix until smooth.
10. Cook, stirring continuously, over medium-high heat until mixture begins to thicken and bubble.
11. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
12. Add a little bit of milk mixture to the egg yolks and whisk together, then add egg mixture to milk mixture. This process ensures that you don’t cook the egg yolks.
13. Place the pan back on the heat and bring to a light boil. Allow to boil for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
14. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth, then top with clear wrap that touches the top of the cream (it helps prevent a film from forming on top). Refrigerate until cool.
15. To make the chocolate ganache, put the chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl.
16. Microwave the heavy whipping cream and corn syrup until it just begins to boil, then pour it over the chocolate chips. Allow it to sit for 2-3 minutes, then whisk until smooth.
17. Set ganache in the fridge until firm.
18. When you’re ready to build the cups, fill each cookie with about a tablespoon of pastry cream, then top with the chocolate ganache. If the ganache is a touch firm when you remove it from the fridge, let it sit on the counter a bit to warm up, or microwave it in 5 second increments until it’s a good consistency for piping.
19. Refrigerate the cookie cups in an air tight container until ready to serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie Cup
- Calories: 285
- Sugar: 22.5 g
- Sodium: 121.6 mg
- Fat: 14.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 34.7 g
- Protein: 4.4 g
- Cholesterol: 61.5 mg
Filed Under:
Enjoy!
I made these last weekend and I could taste the corn starch in the cookie. Would these still work if the corn starch is skipped? Everyone loved these but I couldn’t get past the corn starch.
It should be fine without the corn starch.
These are so cute! I love Boston cream pie, and the idea of making it as cookie cups is simply genius!
can these be made in mini cupcake tins?
Sure. You’ll just want to reduce the baking time.
Sure, they’d be quite small. You’d also want to reduce the baking time a bit.
Hi Lindsay, your recipes for cookie cups are great. Thank you for adding European measures. Greetings from Poland!
Lindsay, Thank you for such a quick reply! Do you have a recipe for ‘Pumpkin Pastry Cream OR any suggestions as to where I might find it?? Thanks again
I don’t have a recipe for it and haven’t ever tried one. I would do a little googling and see what’s out there. Sorry I can’t help more with that!
N/P>>I will try googling & see what I can find! Thanks anyway!!
Lindsay, my family prefers milk chocolate. Do you think the texture of the recipe would be compromised if I used milk chocolate chips instead?
That should be fine.
You made these in a cup
cake tin for cupcakes not the mini tins used for pecan tassies? Thank you!
Yes, they are made in a standard size cupcake pan.
Are you referring to a regular muffin tin size pan? Also Lindsay, I was wondering what the ‘Boston Cream’ center would taste like if PUMPKIN was added for Thanksgiving?? (and how much)
A regular sized cupcake pan is what I used. For the pumpkin, I would think it’d work, there’d just need to be some adjustments. You could certainly look for a pumpkin pastry cream to use.
Mmmmm! These look fantastic! I hope you fared well with the storm. I’m down by Fort Lauderdale and really lucked out. We never even lost power which is crazy! Very grateful for the outcome and SO happy it is over.
hey girl- these look amazing!
Do you use a certain tip for the ganache?
I typically use an Ateco 844 tip, which is similar to the Wilton 1M or 2D.
What tip did you use for the icing?
Thanks!
Ateco 844, similar to the Wilton 1M or 2D. It’s a large closed star tip.
I adore your cookie cup ideas and this one is another delicious variation! I love making them for dessert tables. Thanks for sharing!
Wow! These look wonderful. Boston cream pie has always been one of my favorite things. Stay safe from Irma!
Yummy!!! Those look so cute and delicious!!! Hope your doing well! ❤️
Looks amazing as always!!! Thanks Lindsay!
Hi. I started following your blog recently. it satisfies my baking obsession when I can’t bake. 🙂
I have a question, though. i notice that when i bake with Baking soda, the food comes with a funny taste. i don’t know if you understand. Could you supplement with an equal amount of baking powder? Thanks.
Hmm, I haven’t ever noticed that issue. Could it be the brand of baking soda? It isn’t typically a 1 to 1 swap with baking powder.
I found a recipe for ‘PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE FILLING’ so I think I’ll try that with your ‘VANILLA CUPS’ & instead of chocolate swirls on top, a dab of Whipped Cream or Cool Whip would do the trick!
Hi Gloria: Could it be you used a bit too much Baking Soda OR had the box been opened for quite awhile & had gone a bit rancid?? Just a thought!!!!