These cookie cups are baked in a mini muffin pan to create sturdy, scoopable wells that hold their shape without spreading or collapsing. The dough bakes up soft but structured, with lightly crisp edges and a center that’s easy to press while warm. Once cooled, the cups are filled with thick chocolate pudding for a simple, reliable finish that works well for parties, trays, and make-ahead prep.
This recipe yields a large batch and uses a consistent portion size, so the cookie cups bake evenly from edge to edge. The method is straightforward and repeatable, making it easy to get uniform results across multiple pans.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Make sure your butter is truly softened to room temperature—not melted or cold. Properly softened butter creams smoothly with the sugars and helps the dough bake evenly without excess spreading.
- Use mini chocolate chips, not standard-sized chips. The dough is portioned into small wells, and larger chips can interfere with pressing the centers and cause cracking or uneven sides. Mini chips distribute more evenly and help the cups hold their shape.
- Cornstarch plays an important role in the texture of these cookie cups. It softens the crumb slightly so the cups stay tender after cooling while still holding structure.
Making Perfect Little Cookie Cups
Don’t overmix the dough after adding dry ingredients. Stop mixing as soon as the flour is fully incorporated. Overmixing can lead to tough, dense cookie cups that don’t bake up tender.
Time matters—press the centers down within two to three minutes of removing the pan from the oven. Waiting too long makes the cookies set too much, which can cause cracking or uneven wells.
Use a narrow-bottomed glass or shot glass to press: Make sure your tamper isn’t wider than the muffin opening—this prevents breaking the edges and keeps the walls strong enough to hold the filling.
Let cookie cups cool in the pan after shaping: They’ll firm up and hold their structure better than if you remove them while warm. Trying to unmold them too early can cause breakage.
Super Simple Filling Ideas
- Thick chocolate instant pudding made with reduced milk for a stable, spoonable filling.
- Vanilla instant pudding for a lighter option or a mixed batch.
- Piped chocolate or vanilla pudding for a cleaner, more decorative finish.
- A combination of chocolate and vanilla pudding for variety on a serving tray.
Storage Instructions
Unfilled cookie cups can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two days. Allow them to come to room temperature before filling.
Filled cookie cups are best served shortly after assembling, as the pudding can soften the cookie base over time.
Make Ahead Tips
Cookie dough can be scooped and refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to two months. Thaw frozen dough completely in the refrigerator before baking.
If baked ahead, allow the cookie cups to cool completely, then store them in an airtight container. Bring to room temperature before filling to keep the texture consistent.
More Cookie Cup Recipes
- Boston Cream Pie Cookie Cup Recipe
- Reese Peanut Butter Cookie Cups Recipe
- Pecan Pie Cookie Cup Recipe
- S’mores Cookie Cups Recipe
Cookie Cups
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cups light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
Filling
- 7.8 ounces chocolate instant pudding (two 3.9 ounce boxes)
- 2 ¾ cups whole milk, very cold
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350* F. Spray a (24 count) mini muffin pans with baker’s spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl sift together the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl cream the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar, on medium speed with a handheld mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- To the creamed butter add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until fully incorporated.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the bowl and mix just until all the flour has been incorporated and no streaks remain.
- Stir in the mini chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
- Using a small cookie scoop (approximately 1 tablespoon) a level scoop of cookie dough and place into a mini muffin cup. Repeat until you have filled all the prepared mini muffin cups. Note, you will have to bake a second batch with the remaining cookie dough unless you have two, 24 count, mini muffin pans.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until lightly golden and the canter has set.
- Remove the mini muffin pan from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes.
- Using the bottom of a small glass (a shot glass works well for this) to push the center of the baked cookies down while they are still warm to form the cookie cups. Be sure to use a small glass that is not as wide as the mini muffin cup openings so that you leave enough of the sides of the cookie cups intact for good structure for filling with the pudding.
- Allow the cookie cups to continue to cool in the pan for another 8-10 minutes before removing them from the muffin pan and allowing them to cool completely on a wire rack before filling them.
- While the cookie cups are baking and cooling, you can make the chocolate pudding. In a medium mixing bowl add the chocolate instant pudding mix and whole milk. Whisk for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- Once the cookie cups have cooled completely, you can spoon 1 ½ tablespoon dollops of pudding into each of the cookie cups before plating and serving.
Notes
- Be sure to use mini chocolate chips for these cookie cups. The standard sized chips are just too big for this recipe.
- You can make larger cookie cups using a standard size muffin pan. You will need to add about 2 ½ – 3 tablespoons of dough to each muffin cup and adjust the bake time to 15-17 minutes.
- The pudding for these cookie cups is made with less milk than called for on the package to make this a thicker pudding consistency. You can certainly make the pudding according to package directions if preferred.
- You can transfer the thicker chocolate pudding to a large piping bag, fitted with a large piping tip, to pipe the pudding into the cups in a more decorative manner.
- You can use whatever flavor or instant pudding you prefer to fill your cookie cups. Vanilla works well with the chocolate chip cookies. You can do a combination of both chocolate and vanilla filled cookie cups if desired.
Nutrition
Comments
Tin says
super delicious! this recipe is perfect to my kids!
Bon says
Looking yummy! Do you know if there’s a way to make chocolate cookie cups?
Layne Henderson says
I’m sure you could adjust the cookie recipe to have it be double chocolate but I haven’t tried it like that yet! 🙂 Enjoy!