Boston Cream Pie, or actually more of a cake, is the dessert that made Boston famous, or is it the other way around? Oh well, chicken or egg. What’s important is that it’s here now, and it’s still so dang good. And Boston doesn’t seem to care either, because it even became their ‘official’ adopted dessert in 1996. This rich, but devastatingly delicious, dessert typically features a layer of thick, creamy custard, sandwiched between soft, buttery layers of cake and topped with a thick chocolate ganache. And it’s one of our favorite desserts to serve at our Holday table to close-out our big meal.

But we can’t always leave well-enough alone. No matter how good the tried and true is, I just can’t stop there. I just can’t stop myself. I embrace change, well I do in the kitchen at least if not anywhere else. Luckily, with this fun finger food, there were no other feet dragging either.

Now let me present to you for your upcoming Holiday dinner enjoyment: all the same flavor of Boston Cream Pie, but served in miniature form and in little sugar cookie cups, no less. These make the perfect bite-sized appetizer or dessert anytime of the year, but they will definitely have star-power at any Holiday meal.

Boston Cream Pie Cookie Cups

uncooked sugar cookie dough, can be the refrigerated kind or from a dry package and mixed according to the package directions
2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1 3.4 ounce box of instant vanilla, or French vanilla, pudding
¼ cup powdered sugar
Chocolate syrup

Directions

1. Roll the dough into roughly 1″ balls and place all the balls into the muffin depressions in a greased mini muffin pan. Lightly press a spoon or rounded tablespoon into the top center of each dough ball to create a crater in the middle. Bake the cookie cups at 375 degrees for about 9 minutes. It’s ok if the centers seem a wee bit undercooked as long as they’re not ‘doughy’. Again, use your spoon or tablespoon to lightly push down the center again retain the ‘cup’ form. Let the cookie cups rest for 5 minutes, before transferring them to a wire rack to continue cooling.
   2. in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cream and whip, starting on a low speed, and then as it begins to thicken increase the speed until it has been thickened almost to the consistency of whipped cream. Add the pudding and the sugar. Continue to whip until they’re all evenly incorporated and the mousse is the consistency of thick whipped cream.
   3. Add the mousse to a piping bag, or to a ziplock bag with one corner snipped off, and pipe into petite little piles in the cooled cookie cups. Top the filled cups with liberal drizzles of chocolate syrup.
   4. Serve them immediately or store them in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.

recipe adapted from House of Yumm