Mini Desserts, Anyone?

So, I work with the youth in my church and every year we do a night to honor the Seniors that will be leaving home and going to college, etc.  Well this year, they wanted to have a dessert bar and so I volunteered to help by making a few different dessert shots in little cups.  Everything is cuter (and tastes better, I'm convinced now!) when it's little!  Don't you agree?

These delicious little addictions were all SO easy to make and make me look like a "Domestic Queen."  All my recipes came from Pinterest (yes, I'm a Pinterest addict) and I was really happy with how they turned out.  Here's a rundown of the menu and how I layered them:

Boston Cream Pie

For this one I feel like I somehow cheated because it was so easy, but it turned out delicious.  Boston Cream Pie is one of my favorite desserts so I was super excited to find this.  I used THIS recipe for the basis of my idea.  Yes, it really is a box cake mix, a tub of frosting and instant pudding, but believe me.  It's delicious.  

So, after you bake the cake as indicated in the recipe, and while the cake is still warm, you cut it into little squares (mine ended up being about an inch square) and put a couple in each cup.  We used about half of the baked cake, and it made 25 little cups.  Then you mix up the pudding, and then spoon some into each cup.  You don't want to drown the cake in it, so I only did about one spoonful for each cup.  Then you let them cool completely before heating up the frosting like the recipe suggests and spooning a little bit on top to complete your deliciously easy Boston Cream Pie.

LAYER ORDER:

1) Warm Cake Cubes

2) Pudding

3) Chocolate Frosting

Oreo Cheesecake

Oreos + Cheesecake...how could I resist making this.  I found the recipe HERE.  It was delicious.  The only thing I changed, is I put a little extra cookie crumbs in the cheesecake part of the recipe.  2 Tablespoons just wasn't enough for me!  I also put a little whipped cream on top using my handy dandy dessert decorator I got at Michael's for like $15.  Totally worth it.  Also, this recipe is smaller, so keep in mind that you will get around 15 finished cups so if you want more than that, double it (or triple it, depending on how many you need and how much you think you will sample along the way...)  And FYI, 25 Oreos (that the recipe calls for) is 2 rows of a regular sized package, so that means one whole row for me tomorrow when Little Man is taking his nap and hubby is at work.  No, I'm not joking.  

I would suggest NOT using the double stuf (yes, they do spell that with just one "f") Oreos for this one, because you want to make sure the dust is really nice and fine, and the extra frosting kind of gums that up.

LAYER ORDER:

1) Cookie Crust

2) Oreo Cheesecake

3) Oreo Crumbs

4) Oreo Cheesecake

5) Whipped Cream

6) Oreo Crumbs for Decor

Banana Pudding Pie

This was by far the easiest one I put together, and I didn't really have a recipe, just the idea that was in my head.  The ingredients are:

• Vanilla Wafers
• Bananas, sliced
• 2 Boxes of Instant Pudding (I used one box banana cream and one box vanilla.  No, I didn't mean to grab different ones at the store, but it turned out really good that way and not to overwhelmingly banana, so I'd probably do it that way again.)
• Whipped Cream

I used my dessert decorator to get the pudding in the cups and it made it a lot less messy looking, so I would suggest that if you have one!  This recipe made about 25 cups.

LAYER ORDER:

1) Vanilla Wafer

2) Pudding

3) A Few Banana Slices

4) Pudding

5) Whipped Cream

6) Crushed Vanilla Wafer for Decor

Lemon-Raspberry Cheesecake

This was my favorite one by far.  It was so easy and delicious, I think I probably ate at least 3 of them during the course of the evening...  The recipe came from THIS BLOG.  The nice thing about this cheesecake is that there's no baking involved, so it comes together quickly and will wow anyone that tries it! I basically followed the recipe exactly and we made 25 cups that were halfway full and they went fast!  Don't scrimp on the raspberries or the lemon zest.  It gives it an AMAZING flavor.

Make sure and leave out enough raspberries to top each cup with.  It gives it that final delicious and beautiful look.  Again...the dessert decorator saved me and made me look like a pro!  Oh, and my husband figured out a genius trick to get it packed down into the cup...put the spoonful of Graham Cracker Crust in one cup and then use another cup to smash it down inside.  What can I say.  He's amazing.

LAYER ORDER:
1) Graham Cracker Crust
2) Cheesecake Filling
3) Graham Cracker Crumbs for Decor
4) Raspberry