Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups

Jump to Recipe

These fun banana cream pie cookie cups are sweet & tasty little dessert bites. Ready-prepared sugar cookie dough topped with thick banana pudding filling, lightly whipped cream, & fresh bananas is seriously amazing. This easy recipe for the ultimate bite-sized dessert is fantastic.

Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups made with Jello pudding and fresh bananas ready to eat.

Mini cream pies are always adorable & delicious. Like my mini blueberry muffins, these are hard to resist so enjoy more than one! The combination of two favorites; banana cream pudding pie with classic sugar cookies in this dessert recipe is a pure delight.

Jump to:

Ingredients for Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups
How to Make Easy Banana Pudding Cookie Cups
Roll & Bake the Cookie Dough
Press & Fill the Cookie Cups
Add Toppings to Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups
Top Tips
Variations & Substitutions
Equipment
Storage
FAQ
Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups

This recipe for sugar cookie cups has a Jell-O banana cream pudding filling that is so easy to make. In total all you need is 5 ingredients for this quick & easy recipe. Most are pantry staples plus some fresh milk and bananas.

This is one of the best dessert recipes that use fresh ripe bananas. Make sure they are ripe but not too mushy. If they are past their prime, soft, & overripe, they are best used in a banana smoothie or in a recipe for creamy banana ice cream.

The store-bought sugar cookie dough, instant pudding mix, & non-dairy whipped topping are all great shortcut ingredients. The optional toppings are so fun too. So don't skip the Nilla wafers & whipped cream for that classic banana pudding flavor.

Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups Ingredients on a table including Jello instant banana pudding, cool whip & more.

Refrigerated Store-Bought Sugar Cookie Dough
Milk
Instant Banana Pudding Mix
Cool Whip - room temperature
Bananas
Reddi-Whip Whipped Cream -optional
Nilla Wafers - optional

See the recipe card for quantities.

Once the ingredients are gathered, it is time to prepare the equipment & oven. Begin by preheating the oven to 325°. Also, make sure the Cool Whip is out of the freezer so it can come to room temperature, you want it soft & thawed.

This recipe calls for 3 easy steps. I will outline the following in the instructions & images below:

Roll & Bake the Cookie Dough
Press & Fill the Cookie Cups
Add Toppings

To make the cookie cups, you will use store-bought sugar cookie dough. Balls of dough will bake in a mini muffin pan. Baking them in the small holes of the muffin tin ensures these are just the right size.

Prepare Pan with Parchment Paper

Do not keep scrolling! You do not want to skip this step. this is my #1 TOP TIP when making any kind of cookie cup recipe. Strips of parchment paper guarantee that the cookie cups do NOT stick to the pan.

Even nonstick pans & cookie spray will help but not work as well. So do this extra step, it only takes a few minutes.

Cut strips of parchment paper that will fit inside the muffin pan. You want them to be just long enough that they will stick up. Those little strips will be what you grab to POP the cookie cups right out of the muffin pan.

Parchment paper strips in each mini muffin hole topped with a ball of sugar cookie dough.

Roll 1 ½ Tablespoons of sugar cookie dough into a ball and place over the parchment paper in each well of the mini muffin pan.

Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups Baked sugar cookie dough hot from the oven baked in mini muffin pan.

Bake them in the 325° oven for 12-14 minutes. Remove them from the oven carefully & begin pressing them immediately while they are hot.

Now it is time to press each cookie down in the wells of the muffin pan. You want to use something that has a flat bottom and is slightly smaller than the muffin wells. I happened to have a tall narrow-shot glass that works perfectly.

You can use a small tart tamper (shaper) if you have one. In a pinch, use the end of a wooden spoon. It's ok if you have to press down a few times to get a larger center area.

Pressing the hot sugar cookie dough down using a shot glass.

Press the centers of the cookies down so that they create a well for the filling. Be careful, you do not break the cookie apart or go too deep and make a hole in the bottom.

Using your hands, carefully lift each cookie cup out of the muffin pan using the parchment paper strips. Each one should pop right out. Place them on a cooling rack to cool off while you make the banana pudding cream filling.

Remove the cookie cups and cool on a baking rack.

Mix the Banana Pudding Pie Filling

In a medium mixing bowl add the instant banana pudding mix and the milk. Using a whisk, combine the two together. It will be thick and a bit lumpy, but that is ok.

Hint: This recipe does not use the same amount of milk as if you were making pudding according to the box directions, you want it rich & dense at this stage

Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups Whipped instant jello banana pudding and milk in a bowl nice and thick.

Next, fold in the room temperature Cool-Whip. Gently add ½ of it to the pudding mixture and fold it carefully together. You do not want to stir or mix. Folding ensures the filling is light & airy.

Add the final bit and fold until it is creamy and combined. The banana cream filling will be a light yellow color at this stage.

Folding in the cool whip to the banana pudding mix.

How to Fill Cookie Cups

Once the filling is ready, scoop it into a pastry bag with a tip or a Ziploc bag. I like to use a Ziploc or sandwich bag that I can fill, tie off, & snip the end off of. That is what I did here cut a very small corner off so I can squirt the filling into each cookie cup.

Bag of banana pudding filling next to cookie cups.

With light pressure, gently squeeze the banana pudding filling into each sugar cookie cup. Make sure each one is full and rising taller than the cookie edges. No skipping on the yummy cream pie filling here!

Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups Squirting banana pudding cream filling into precooked cookie cups.

Once the cookie cups are filled with the banana pudding & Cool-Whip filling, they are almost ready to eat. Simply slice your bananas and place a slice on each cookie. For other topping ideas - see the variations & substitutions section below.

Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups Closeup of banana topped cookie cups lined up.

Top Tips

All of these great tips are shared in this recipe for the best Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups. But these are so good and important they are worth mentioning again so you don't miss them.

Cut strips of parchment & place them into each muffin pan hole before adding the cookie dough balls.
Press the baked cookies gently to create the cup shapes.
Gently fold the Cool-Whip into the pudding mixture so it stays light & airy.
Cut the bananas once you are ready to top the cookie; otherwise, they will oxidize and turn brown.

Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups Topped with banana slices ready to eat on counter and wooden board with bananas next to them.

Variations & Substitutions

Here are some great recipe variations & ingredient substitutions that can be made. Add, omit, or use one of these alternatives for other delicious recipe ideas for Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups

Store-bought Cookie Dough - instead of using refrigerated premade sugar cookie dough, you can make your own homemade. Cooking time & temperature may vary.
Deluxe - add extra toppings like whole or crushed Nilla Wafers, maraschino cherries, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, or whipped cream.
Vanilla - use vanilla pudding instead or banana.
Gluten-free Sugar Cookie Dough - use gluten-free sugar cookie mix or your own recipe to make wheat-free cookie cups.

Banana instant pudding mix made by Jell-O is gluten-free. If you love pudding desserts, also try my Pistachio Pudding Shots for a dessert with alcohol that deserves a lot of cheers.

Topping variations with whipped cream and Nilla wafers.

Equipment

The right ingredients, supplies, & equipment help recipes taste amazing & turn out well. Here are my recommendations for products that are needed for making this recipe for Banana Cream Pie Cookie Cups. Shop this recipe & buy these top-rated items today.

Jell-O Instant Pudding & Pie Filling, Banana Cream, 6 servings ( pack of 1 )

$1.67