A mug cake from the microwave is ready in 30 seconds, but it stays a ceramic mug with batter inside. Here, the cup itself becomes the cake. From a single cookie dough we bake ten edible mini cups, melt the white bonding chocolate in the same mixing bowl, and then whip the chocolate cream in it at the end. One mixing bowl, three states: dough, liquid chocolate, stiff cream. Two quick rinses in between.
We have been making these cookie cups every Advent for years. At every children’s birthday party and on the Christmas Eve coffee table, the cups are always the highlight, because they are two things at once: the drinking vessel and the dessert. Once the hot chocolate is drunk, you eat the cup afterwards. You can see the effect on children straight away: they suddenly drink slowly, because they know the cream is inside.
Cookie Cups with Chocolate Cream, Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 16 ✓
- 100 g sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
- 110 g butter softened, plus extra for greasing
- 1 egg
- 110 g soured cream
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 260 g flour
- 1 tbsp chocolate chips
- 250 g double cream
- 15 g dark cocoa powder
- 50 g sugar
- 1 sachet cream stabiliser
- 10 candy canes
- 20 g white chocolate
- 20 g mini marshmallows
Instructions 0 / 11
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1
Preheat the oven.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
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2
Mix sugar, vanilla sugar, butter and egg.
Add the sugar, vanilla sugar and butter to the mixing bowl and mix for 8 sec / speed 3. Add the egg and mix for 10 sec / speed 3.
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3
Mix the dough.
Add the soured cream, salt, bicarbonate of soda and flour to the mixing bowl and mix for 20 sec / speed 5.
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4
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Add the chocolate chips to the mixing bowl and mix for 4 sec / speed 2.
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5
Fill the moulds and bake.
Butter a muffin tin and spoon the dough in. Butter the base of small, ovenproof shot glasses and press them into the centre of each portion of dough to create the cup shape. Bake the dough, with the glasses in place, for 15 to 20 minutes until the cups are golden brown.
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6
Rinse the mixing bowl.
Meanwhile, rinse the mixing bowl.
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7
Melt the chocolate.
Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin. Add the chocolate to the mixing bowl and melt for 5 min / 50°C / speed 1.
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8
Attach the candy cane handles.
Cut the rounded end off each candy cane and use the melted white chocolate to attach them to the cups as handles. Then wait approximately 1 to 2 hours for the chocolate to set (place in the fridge to speed this up).
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9
Rinse the mixing bowl. Rinse the mixing bowl.
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10
Whip the chocolate cream.
Insert the butterfly whisk. Add the cream, cocoa, sugar and cream stabiliser to the mixing bowl and whip on speed 3.5 until the cream is stiff.
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11
Garnish.
Spoon the cream into the cookie cups and decorate with mini marshmallows.
Tip: You can also fill the cookie cups with chocolate buttons and put them on the table at your next party.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why three steps from one mixing bowl work
The cookie dough comes together after 20 seconds at speed 5 as a slightly sticky mass. We scrape it out with the spatula, rinse the mixing bowl once with warm water and washing-up liquid, then dry it. This takes less than a minute, because without flour almost nothing sticks to the bowl. We then melt 20 g white chocolate for 5 min / 50°C / speed 1. A second rinse, then we insert the butterfly whisk and whip the chocolate cream from 250 g double cream, 15 g cocoa, 50 g sugar and one sachet of cream stabiliser on speed 3.5 until stiff. Three states, one machine, no hand mixer and no separate bowl.
The key is the order. First the dough (sticky, with fat), then the melted chocolate (clear, fatty, very easy to rinse), then the cream (needs a truly fat-free bowl, otherwise it will not whip stiff). If you start with the cream, you would need to use hot water twice in between. This order saves us that.
The cup shape: ovenproof shot glasses instead of specialist moulds
There are expensive silicone moulds for edible cups. We do not need them. We use a standard aluminium muffin tin and small, ovenproof shot glasses or egg cups made of glass. Both are buttered. The glass goes butter-side-down into the centre of the dough and presses a hollow downwards. During baking the dough rises slightly, the glass holds it down and shapes the cup wall.
Wall thickness matters. We add about two tablespoons of dough per hollow, which gives a wall of roughly three to four millimetres. Thinner and the cup cracks as it cools; thicker and the chocolate cream looks mean. Bake at 180 °C for 15 to 20 minutes until the rim is golden brown. The centre still looks soft, which is correct: it firms up as it cools.
Where cookie cups crack or tip over
The glasses stick after baking
This happens when the glasses were not buttered enough, or when the cups are lifted out while still too hot. Our solution: grease the glasses really generously, ideally with soft butter and a pastry brush. After baking, leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then run a knife along the glass wall and pull the glasses out with a gentle twisting motion. Do not yank them straight up.
The chocolate cream does not whip stiff
The most common cause: the mixing bowl still has a film of fat after melting the chocolate. The butterfly whisk also needs a quick check. Our solution: rinse the mixing bowl after melting the chocolate with hot water and washing-up liquid, dry with a kitchen towel, then place it in the freezer for 30 seconds. A cold mixing bowl plus cold cream plus cream stabiliser is the trio that always works.
The candy cane handles fall off
White chocolate works well as a glue, but only when it truly sets. Our solution: lightly flatten the rounded end of the candy cane with a knife to create a larger bonding surface. Then lay the cup on its side, press the handle on and wait 1 to 2 hours. If you are in a hurry, put the cups in the fridge for 20 minutes and the chocolate will be firm.
Variations we have actually tried
- Peppermint Mocha: We add half a teaspoon of peppermint extract to the chocolate cream. In December it tastes like liquid After Eight.
- Caramel Cookie: Instead of chocolate chips, add 30 g of caramel pieces to the dough. They melt during baking and create little caramel puddles at the base of the cup.
- Strawberry Vanilla: Instead of chocolate cream, fill the cup with our strawberry ice cream. The summer version once the heating season is over.
- Salted Caramel Cream: A pinch of fleur de sel on top of the finished chocolate cream. It sounds odd, but it noticeably lifts the chocolate flavour.
Hot chocolate or egg nog in the cup
On cold days we serve the cups alongside a small jug of hot drinking chocolate. Those who prefer to eat the cookies dry can combine them with homemade vanilla sugar sprinkled on top. On the Advent coffee table we always have a plate of walnut biscuits next to them as well, because cookie and biscuit complement each other nicely without competing.
3 days unfilled, 24 hours with cream
Empty cookie cups keep in an airtight tin at room temperature for three days. Over time they soften slightly, which we do not find a problem: some people actually prefer them that way. Once filled with chocolate cream they must go straight into the fridge and should be eaten within 24 hours, as the cream softens the base.
Goes well with: vanilla ice cream.
Freezing works only for the unfilled cups. We wrap them individually in cling film, place them in a freezer box and freeze for up to six weeks. Before serving, leave to thaw at room temperature for one hour, then fill. Attach the handles only after thawing, as the white chocolate becomes dull and brittle in the freezer.
