Caramel Apple Dessert Cups
Caramel apple dessert cups are an easy, delicious, and portable no bake treat. Vanilla wafer crust, salted caramel mousse, cinnamon apples and a drizzle of salted caramel sauce make these cups irresistible and perfect for apple season! No oven required!
Ingredients for Caramel Apple Dessert Cups
- Apples – Use a tart apple that is good for baking! I used Crispin for this recipe. Granny Smith apples, Golden Delicious apples, and Pink Lady apples are also great options! Peel and dice into small pieces!
- Brown sugar – Light brown sugar adds sweetness and a slight caramel flavor.
- Cinnamon – Cinnamon compliments apples perfectly and adds a bit of spice.
- Vanilla wafers – You will need 2 cups for finely crushed vanilla wafers. You could also use graham crackers, vanilla sandwich cookies, or biscoff cookies.
- Unsalted butter – Melted.
- Instant vanilla pudding mix – Be sure you are using instant pudding mix as opposed to cook and serve. You will want to go with a regular 3.4 ounce box.
- Milk – Use what you have and what you like!
- Salted caramel sauce – I have a simple and delicious recipe for homemade Salted Caramel Sauce that has amazing flavor. If you want to save a step, you can also use a store-bought caramel or salted caramel sauce.
- Heavy cream – Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream will work for this recipe.
Tools & Supplies for Making Caramel Apple Dessert Cups
How to Make Caramel Apple Dessert Cups
- In a saucepan, combine apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cook over medium heat until the apples soften and the liquid thickens. Set aside to cool.
- Combine vanilla wafer crumbs and melted butter. Portion the crumbs into 28 2-ounce plastic cups using a small cookie scoop or spoon. Use one of the plastic cups to press the crumbs into the bottom of the cup.
- In a large bowl, whisk together instant vanilla pudding mix and mix. Chill for 5 minutes.
- Add salted caramel sauce to the vanilla pudding and mix on medium speed with an electric hand mixer to combine.
- Pour heavy cream into the pudding. Whip using an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy with a mousse-like texture.
- Fill a piping bag with the caramel mousse and pipe into the cups until about 3/4 full.
- Portion the apple mixture into the cups on top of the caramel mousse.
- Drizzle additional salted caramel sauce on top of the apples.
- Seal the cups with a lid and chill. The cups can be served immediately or stored in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
Make Your Own Salted Caramel Sauce
Salted Caramel Sauce is easy to make! There are only 5 ingredients and it takes less than 10 minutes! And no candy thermometer needed!
Check out my recipe blog post on how to make homemade salted caramel sauce to learn more about the ingredients and the process!
If you are not interested in making your own caramel sauce, you can use a store-bought caramel or salted caramel sauce.
Caramel Apple Dessert Cups Recipe Tips
Plastic cups
The plastic cups with lids can be found on Amazon or at your local party supply store. You can also use cupcake liners or make it in an 8×8 baking dish!
Yield
This recipe makes approximately 28 2-ounce cups. This is an estimation. You may have a few more or a few less depending on how much salted caramel mousse filling you pipe into the cups!
Apples
I recommend using a tart and crisp apple to make the cinnamon apples. For this recipe, I used Crispin apples. Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, and Pink Lady apples are also great options! As apples range in size, it is difficult to say how many will make 4 cups worth. For this recipe, I used 2 very large apples.
Whip the filling for a few minutes
After adding the heavy cream to the caramel pudding mixture, use an electric hand mixer to whip until it is light and creamy. This may take a few minutes!
Storing and serving
These dessert cups can be stored in the refrigerator for about 2 to 3 days. I personally think they taste better after a day or two! A great way to serve these cups at a party is straight out of a cooler! When serving, do not leave the cups out for more than 30 minutes or so.
click the stars to rate!
Caramel Apple Dessert Cups
Equipment
- 28-2 oz. plastic cups with lids
Ingredients
Cinnamon Apples
- 4 cups (500 g) apples peeled and chopped
- ½ cup (110 g) light brown sugar
- 1 tsp (2 g) cinnamon
Caramel Apple Dessert Cups
- 2 cups (220 g) vanilla wafer crumbs
- ¼ cup (57 g) salted or unsalted butter melted
- 1 pkg (96 g) instant vanilla pudding mix 3.4 ounces
- 1 cup (244 g) milk
- ⅓ cup (75 g) salted caramel sauce homemade or store bought
- 1 ½ cups (357 g) heavy cream
- additional caramel sauce for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine peeled and chopped apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir and cook over medium heat until the apples are soft and the liquid thickens. Set aside to cool.
- In a mixing bowl, combine vanilla wafer crumbs and melted butter. Stir until fully incorporated.
- Portion vanilla wafer crumbs into 28 – 2 ounce plastic cups. I recommend using a small cookie scoop. Use the back of one of the plastic cups to press the crumbs down to create the crust.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine instant vanilla pudding mix and milk. Whisk to combine. Chill for 5 minutes.
- Add salted caramel sauce to the vanilla pudding mixture. Use an electric hand mixer on medium speed to mix the caramel into the pudding until smooth.
- Pour in the heavy cream to the pudding mixture and whip then whip with an electric hand mixer for 3-5 minutes until it becomes thick and creamy.
- Transfer the caramel mousse mixture to a large piping bag. Pipe the mousse into the plastic cups on top of the vanilla wafer crust.
- Using a spoon, portion the cinnamon apples over the caramel mousse. Drizzle with additional caramel sauce if desired.
- Seal the cups with a lid and chill. The cups can be served immediately or stored in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Made This Recipe?
Please leave a comment with a star rating to let me know how you enjoyed the recipe!
About Courtney
Baker | 80s Lover | Cookbook Author
Courtney is a self-taught home baker and cookbook author of “Girls Just Wanna Bake Cupcakes”. She loves to create new and unique recipes while simultaneously listening to 80s music.
Do you have the nutritional and calorie information?
Hi Christine! I’m in the process of trying to update posts and put nutritional information in the recipe cards. I just updated the the recipe card and added the nutritional information for these dessert cups. Please note that I cannot guarantee the full accuracy of the information as it is calculated automatically by the recipe plugin.
These were so good! Great for a pot luck but if I’m keeping them at home I’ll definitely make bigger servings next time. I could eat at least 3 of these little ones.
Hi Christina! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! You can absolutely make them whatever size you want.
This recipe is a big hit. Can you help me adjust this recipe for 5 oz cups, please? We would like to do this for our seniors group
Hi Karen! So glad that you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you for trying it out. For 5 oz cups, you are going to do the same thing, but you will be adding about double of the ingredients to each of the cups, so the recipe will likely yield about 12 cups or so. If you need more than that, I recommend doubling the recipe. You can hit the 2x button on the recipe card for the doubled amount!
This recipe is absolutely delicious and people rave about it when I serve it for a crowd. Thank you for posting it. It is elegantly easy and wonderful!
Happy to hear that these dessert cups were a crowd pleaser! 🙂
These are delicious!!! Saving this one for the books
Awesome! So happy that you enjoyed the recipe!
I made these for a benefit. They were a HUGE hit!! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. This is definitely a keeper!!
Hi Jeri! So happy to hear these cups were a big hit! 🙂
Can you can apple pie filling?
Hi Marcia! Yes, absolutely! You may need to cut up the apples if they are very large.
Thank you so much . I can’t wait to make this .
I haven’t cooked this recipe but upon reading the recipe made me salivating & hungry. I will buy the ingredients this week and I’ll be baking this recipe. Thank you so much. I wish you good luck on your business and I hope to receive more delicious recipes from you. I love cooking & baking for my grandchildren. Thank you so much.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Should you be mixing the whipping cream then fold the pudding misture with it?
Hi Amanda! You pour the heavy cream into the pudding mixture and then whip it until it thickens up.
Just made these are boy oh boy are they top notch. I found that the apply mixture didn’t thicken but the apples were plenty flavorful. I did wonder what to do with the extra liquid- mine ended up going down the drain this time but something to think about. I ended up using 3ounce cups which made 24. I would probably keep the 3ounce option but make more crust. I cannot wait to try the other dessert cups!
Hi Rachel! Thanks so much for trying out the recipe! I’ve noticed that sometimes different kinds of apples can yield different amounts of liquid. So happy to hear you enjoyed!
Thank you for this recipe!! I made these for my coworkers and they were a HUGE hit. I am curious about how you think caramelized bananas in place of the apples would work.
So glad these dessert cups were at hit at work!! Ooooooo! Caramelized bananas sounds AMAZING!
My Apple/brown sugar/cinnamon mixture isn’t thickening. Is this going to make a difference? Everything else seems/smells perfect and I’m just waiting for that to finish cooling to add to the top.
Hi Kristian! Cooling the apple mixture down should help thicken it up a bit.
What apples are best to use for this recipe?
Hi Bridget! I love using pink lady apples, honey crisp apples or Granny Smith! Those are usually my go-to apples.
I’ve made these twice to rave reviews. I would like to make it in a cassarole dish and freeze. would that be possible? thanks for a great recipe
Hi Cathy! Thanks for trying the recipe! So glad you enjoyed! I haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. Please let me know if you try it out!
Does it have to be “instant”?
Hi Kathleen! To follow the recipe as written, yes, you would need to use instant pudding mix. You could try using a cooked pudding, but I haven’t tested that with these particular measurements.
So delicious! I just made these for a family gathering and they were a big hit.
Hi Sharon! So happy that you enjoyed the recipe!! Thanks for trying it out!
Everything about this is delicious. Love the concept of little dessert cups, perfect for a little sweet after a big meal.
Yes! They are the perfect little bite!
Very fun and cute but definitely time consuming and kind of meticulous 🙂 Love the flavors though!
Hi Cynthia! There are definitely several elements to this recipe! If you are looking for something a bit more simple, I have many other dessert cup recipes that are a bit quicker and easier to make!
Where did you get the individual serving plastic cups? And what size are they?
Hi there! I purchased the cups off Amazon! If you scroll to my “Recipe Tips” section, I have the exact ones I use linked. They are 2 ounce cups.
Would homemade pudding work
Hi Regina! Yes, you could absolutely use homemade pudding. The great thing about these dessert cups is that they are very customizable!
I’m in the middle of making recipe, my company have pushed out a week. Can I complete recipe and freeze it?
Hi Carolyn! Yes, you should be able to freeze the crust and filling portion. I would add the apple part when the event arrives.
could you use cheese cake pudding instead of vanilla?
Absolutely! That sounds delicious!
Could you freeze these in small tin foil ramekins?
I have not tried it with foil ramekins but I don’t see why not! They freeze pretty well in the plastic cups! 🙂