Sweets for the Sweet

If you are looking for an easy dessert with universal appeal, this might be just your cup of chocolate. I discovered this easy recipe for cookie cups a few years ago in Southern Lady, and it is a family favorite. Who can resist a warm, fresh-baked cookie topped with creamy ice cream and drizzled with syrup? This dessert is quick to put together because you use prepared cookie dough. The flavor combinations you could use for this cookie cup dessert are infinite. Sugar cookies with raspberry sherbet and fresh berries. Peanut butter cookies with chocolate ice cream. White chocolate chunk cookies with coffee ice cream. At our house we love chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream so much that we stick with this classic flavor every time.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and grease a muffin pan. One regular-size tube of cookie dough should yield at least 6 cookie cups. Cut dough into slices about 2 inches thick, and push cookie dough into each muffin cup. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cookies look golden brown. Remove the muffin pan from the oven, and gently tap the bottom of the pan on your kitchen counter. This will cause the center of the cookie cup to deflate, leaving a perfect spot for a scoop of ice cream. Allow the cookie cups to cool for a few minutes before easing them out of the pan with a fork. Top each cookie cup with a scoop of ice cream, then drizzles of chocolate and caramel syrup. Yum! Leftovers, should you have any, can be wrapped in foil or kept in an airtight container for several days.

Photo by Nathan Prichard