These Black Forest Cookie Cups are a soft baked chocolate cookie filled with chocolate mousse and cherry pie filling. All topped with fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
I don’t know about you, but I love the idea of fancy desserts that don’t take a lot of work. You know the kind where your friends think you spent all day in the kitchen to prepare them but secretly it’s super easy? Well these Black Forest Cookie Cups are one of those desserts!
If you’ve ever been over to my site, you will see a lot of what I like to call “cream pie cookie cups”. They’re similar to these cookies, but start with crust made of-you guessed it- more cookies. My Chocolate Cream Pie Cookie Cups have been such a huge hit, they inspired me to make this recipe.
The rich chocolate cookies stay super soft, even after being refrigerated. This is partly due to the addition of dry pudding mix that is added into the dough. Personally, I prefer Hershey’s Special Dark pudding mix, because I am a dark chocolate kinda gal, but if you are unable to find it, regular chocolate pudding will do just fine. I also use a dark chocolate cocoa powder to help get that rich chocolate flavor.
The filling for these cookie cups is a chocolate mousse made with a few simple ingredients: chocolate pudding mix (again, Hershey’s Special Dark is preferred) mixed with milk and combined with homemade whipped cream. For the whipped cream, I add a lot of powdered sugar for stability.
I also like to mix in some chocolate shavings, because more chocolate is always better! I gently fold it all together to make the mousse and then fill each cookie cup using a Ziploc bag. You will notice I use half the pudding mix, if you make a full package, you will end up with a lot of leftover mousse. This is definitely not a bad thing! It can be enjoyed with a spoon or on top of fruit!
This recipe is intended to be baked in a regular sized muffin pan, because there’s a lot of filling. However, these will also work as mini cookie cups if you have a mini muffin pan. I use a tart shaper to press into the cookies, but if you don’t have a tart shaper, I recommend using the back edge of a spoon, or even the back of a cookie scoop works well.
The toppings are even easier. I used a canned cherry pie filling and dolloped a spoonful on top of the mousse. Then, I piped some leftover whipped cream on top. I am new to the idea of black forest desserts, but after I made my Black Forest Poke Cake, I knew why everyone loved it so much!
There is a whole lot to love in these cookie cups! They are easy to adapt if you want to swap out the pie filling!
Connect with Chocolate, Chocolate and More!
Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Pinterest | Instagram
These Black Forest Cookie Cups are a soft baked chocolate cookie filled with chocolate mousse and cherry pie filling. All topped with fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
Ingredients
- For the cookies
- 1 C (2 sticks) Unsalted butter
- 1 C Sugar
- ¾ C Brown sugar
- 2 Large eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 2¼ C Flour
- 1 pkg Hershey's Special Dark chocolate pudding mix (3.4oz)
- ¼ C Dark chocolate cocoa powder
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Milk
- For the mousse
- 2 C Heavy whipping cream
- 1 C Powdered sugar
- ¼ C Hershey's Special Dark chocolate pudding mix (3.4oz)
- 1/2 C Milk
- 1/4 C Chocolate shavings
- ½ can Cherry pie filling (21 oz can)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a muffin pan with cooking spray or Crisco.
- Combine butter and sugars in your stand mixer and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla extract. Beat into butter and sugar until thoroughly mixed.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, dry pudding mix, baking soda and salt. Stir to combine. Set aside.
- Slowly add dry ingredients into batter and beat on low speed until dough starts to form. If dough is a little dry, add 1 tablespoon of milk.
- Drop 3 tablespoons of dough into the greased muffin pan and bake at 350°F for 18-20 minutes. Cookies may deflate in the middle when cooling, but that’s fine!
- Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Use a tart shaper or the back of a spoon to gently push down the middle of the cookies. Allow to cool for another 30 minutes in the pan. You may need to run a knife around the edge of the cookies to help release them from the pan.
- For the mousse
- Put bowl and whisk in the freezer for 10 minutes until completely cold. Whip heavy cream on medium high speed for several minutes until bubbly.
- Add powdered sugar and beat on medium-high until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate whipped cream.
- Use a sharp knife to cut a chocolate bar into small shavings. You will need a couple tablespoons for the pudding and some to sprinkle on top of the cookies.
- Combine instant chocolate pudding mix with milk. Whisk until powder dissolves, pudding will be very thick. Refrigerate until pudding is firm.
- Take 1 cup of the whipped cream and fold into pudding until mixed along with 2-3 tablespoons of chocolate shavings. Do not mix vigorously as it will deflate the whipped cream. Refrigerate until you are ready to assemble cookies.
- To assemble the cookies, put the mousse in a Ziploc bag. Cut the corner off the end of the bag and gently fill the middle of the cookie cup with mousse up to the top.
- Use a spoon and place 2-3 cherries on top of the mousse. Add a spoonful of the leftover whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
- Cookies must be refrigerated in an airtight container after the mousse has been added.
If you enjoyed these cookie cups, you might also like:
Peppermint Cream Pie Cookie Cups
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies
Melted Peppermint Patty Cookies
Key Lime Cheesecake Cookie Cups from Carlsbad Cravings
Rolo Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups from Crazy for Crust
Eclair Cookie Cups from The Melrose Family
I love black forest cake. These cookie cups look just as yummy but way easier!
What a great dessert! I love that these are in bite size form!
Oh man, these look fantastic. Best cake meets cookies. LOVE IT!!
I just want to check on the ingredients.. Am I reading it correctly that I need 2 boxs of the pudding mix. I use one whole one and then only 1/4 c. of the second one?? Just want to make sure I have this correct before I start.. This dessert is a great finger dessert for Holiday parties. I dont mind if you use my question, but please dont use my email address. I am emailing from work on my break 🙂
Thank you, Stephanie
Hi Stephanie. Yes you are reading that correctly. 1 box of pudding mix (3.4oz) for the cookie cup and 1/4 cup of the second box of pudding mix! Enjoy!
These are adorable! Love the whipped cream on top!
Love your recipes! What would the baking time be if I used a mini cupcake pan instead of a full size pan?
Hi Eric, try 8-10 minutes! If they are still a little gooey in the middle add 1-2 minutes and be sure to allow them to rest in the pan.
Yeah! So excited to see this post up! Thanks for having me Joan!
These cookie cups look so elegant and delicious!