Chocolate Ganache Filled Sugar Cookie Cups

Chocolate Ganache Filled Sugar Cookie Cups Recipe

I have an easy and very yummy sugar cookies treat you can make for Christmas or Valentine’s day (or anytime really!) I’ve taken them to Christmas parties in the past and were a big hit!! The best part of this recipe is the chocolate ganache that you will fill each sugar cookie with!!!

This is an easy way to make sugar cookies without needing a cookie cutter! Plus, when you combine them with the easy chocolate ganache recipe, they are to die for! This sugar cookie recipe you can use at Christmas time for a cookie exchange, and then make them again as a valentine’s day treat! You can then turn these into hot chocolate look alike cookie cups for even more fun. They look fancy – but really are easy and they taste amazing!!!

Now if you know me, cooking is not my favorite. At least not gourmet Julia Child cooking. Baking is a little better – but anything I make has to an easy dessert recipe – and I’m always a huge fan of shortcuts (in this case, premade Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough is my shortcut.)

If you are a better baker than I, then you may prefer to use your own sugar cookie dough recipe with your butter, sugar, and flour mixture in your electric mixer, please do. As for me though, I have no problem heading to Wegmans and picking up my 30 oz package of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough for this recipe.

(affiliate links below)

Ingredients and materials needed for this sugar cookies recipe filled with chocolate ganache frosting:

• 30 package of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough
• mini muffin tin 

I have not made these with a dry sugar cookie mix, but I’m betting that would work just as well then from making them from scratch.

For Chocolate Simple Ganache:

• 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream (the amount of cream is less than you might think!)
• 2 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix
• 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips (you can use dark chocolate chips for dark chocolate ganache or white chocolate chips for white chocolate ganache if you prefer.)
• optional toppings like mini marshmallows, red icing, red sugar, or red cinnamon candies.

Or you can use this recipe for sugar cookie dough that my mom gave me:

• 1/2 cup butter (soft)
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Instructions on how to make high quality chocolate ganache filled sugar cookie cups:

Homemade sugar cookie dough version:

In a large bowl, cream butter, shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Blend in flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and chill for at least 1 hr. Then follow the steps below on how to place it in the mini muffin tins and bake from there.

Step by step instructions for the easy version:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1. Take a tablespoon of premade Pillsbury dough and roll it into 1-inch balls. Then roll the ball into granulated sugar to help it not to stick to the mini muffin pan. No cooking spray needed.
2. You also do not need to make indentations in the dough to get the cup shape. Just ball the dough and bake. During the baking process, the soft sugar cookie dough will melt and take the shape of the mini muffin cups, creating the cookie cup.
3. Be sure you are not using more than a tablespoon of dough, otherwise, the dough will cook over the edge of the muffin cup and your cookie cup will be a mess. It’s better to use less dough than more in this recipe. You will have a little bit of dough leftover from the 30 oz tube of dough. Either save the dough for a few extra cups in a second batch or just add it to a normal cookie sheet for some bonus flat cut out sugar cookies.
4. Bake 12-14 minutes until the dough has made an indentation and they turn golden brown. I had to watch these closely and my oven, 13 minutes was perfect. I did make a batch and baked just 12 minutes and it was too doughy and the cups broke when I tried pulling them out. You may have to experiment with this depending on your oven temp.

Instructions on how to make the ganache frosting recipe using semi-sweet chocolate chips:

1. Chocolate Ganache: This makes enough for 24 cookie cups
2. In a small saucepan, and on medium heat to high heat, bring 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream to a boil. Stir in 2 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix while you are heating cream..
3. Put 1 cup of chocolate chips into a glass Pyrex measuring cup. Pour the hot cream mixture of chocolate over the chocolate chips and let it sit for about 3 minutes until the chocolate melts.
4. After 3 minutes, the melted chocolate chips need to be stirred until smooth. This creates the warm ganache chocolate sauce that tastes like chocolate truffles!
5. In the center of each cookie cup, pour the chocolate ganache into the little cookie cups. You won’t need much, and it pours fast, so pour with caution!

When the ganache is poured and chilled, it is like gooey fudge. The first time you try it, you will discover a wonderfully smooth texture of the best chocolate – thicker ganache than frosting, but thinner than fudge. Pure heaven in your mouth if you ask me!

You will want to decorate your cookies while the ganache is still warm. Otherwise, it hardens up and whatever topping you use won’t stick in the chocolate. Choose from mini marshmallows, colored sugar, colored icing (or whatever other sugar cookie cup candy sprinkles you have on hand). You can even top with fresh fruit like blueberries or raspberries.

Or you can cool the cookies without any decorations. Then when you pull them out of the refrigerator, you can add a dollup of cool whip. If you want these to look like actual hot chocolate mugs, break off loops from some mini pretzels and press those into the side of the mini sugar cookie cups.

My personal favorite way to decorate these chocolate ganache sugar cookies is to add a swirl pattern on your cookies. You simply place one dot of your choice of color of Wilton cookie icing into the middle of the ganache. Use a toothpick and swirl the color around until you get the pattern you want.

When you are done decorating, chill your cookies and serve cold. (or the ganache will get too thin and make it messier to eat at room temperature.) Then you can enjoy all of the compliments you receive when these are the next big hit at your holiday party! 🙂

This has officially made it to my list of easy recipes for Christmas cookies – especially for sugar cookies! These also make wonderful cookies to celebrate valentine’s day!

Be sure to share today’s recipe with friends on social media! It’s the perfect recipe for holiday cookies and it only needs 4-5 minimal ingredients if you make these the easy way!

Looking for more great chocolate recipes? Check these out:

Moist chocolate cake recipe with pudding

Chocolate covered Oreos

10+ easy Valentine’s Day dessert recipes

Cheesecake Cups Recipe with Oreo Thin Cookies Crust

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Ganache

Print