Caramel Apple Shooters

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I don’t know where I’ve been, but dessert shooters are totally new to me! I can’t believe these are a thing and that I’ve been missing out because these are perfect for so many reasons- they are small & sometimes a little dessert is in order, they are super easy to make, they are great for gatherings of all sizes, but especially gatherings where people are milling about and an individual dessert is the perfect dessert, and Pinterest is loaded with ideas for flavor combinations and recipes!

After looking online for a dessert to make for a get together with friends, I decided to try my hand at caramel apple shooters- mainly because all of the shooter pictures I saw & recipes I looked at seemed super easy, but also because I had a lot of ingredients on hand that I thought I could use to whip up some yum. Let’s see how these came together! (Spoiler alert, they were a huge hit!)

First, you’ll want to gather your ingredients:

3 tart apples, peeled and cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup of pecan apple butter (or just apple butter if you can’t find the pecan version- mine is from a farm stand so it may not be readily available)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups heavy cream, made into whipped cream:
- Add 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla to heavy cream
- Beat cream on high in a stand mixer for 2-3 minutes, or with a hand mixer on high for 5+ minutes, until it is the consistency of whipped cream (If you’re in the market for a hand mixer, I am pleasantly surprised by how well my new Kitchen Aid hand mixer gets the job done!)
3/4 cup caramel (I looooove the Ghirardelli brand!)

Next, melt the butter in a pan and add the diced apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon, stir, and cook until softened (but not mushy!!) 3-5 minutes.

Transfer apples to a shallow dish and chill until cool, approximately 1 hour.

While the apples are cooling:

Make the whipped cream as noted above in the ingredient list.
In a separate bowl, mix the cream cheese and caramel sauce until smooth.
Fold 1 cup of the whipped cream into the cream cheese & caramel mixture, being careful not to over mix the mixture.

Once the apples are chilled, mix in 1 cup of the pecan apple butter, stirring until the apples are well coated.

Caramel Apple Shooter Cups & Spoons

I found my shooter glasses and little spoons at Dollar Tree. I believe they were 6 shooter cups for $1 and 12 tiny spoons for $1.

If you love the Dollar Tree as much as I do you’ll definitely want to check out this post! 150+ Things You Should ALWAYS Buy at Dollar Tree!

If you are not near a Dollar Tree, or if your store doesn’t carry the cups and spoons, you can purchase the shooter cups and spoons as a set on Amazon. (Or if you are making dozens+ of these the price is much better on Amazon.)

Caramel Apple Shooter Assembly

At this point, all of the ingredients for making the shooters are ready to go.

If you have pastry bags you can use them, if not large disposable bags will work just as well. I kind of winged it because we were in Illinois when I made these and my kitchen there is slim pickin’s!
- Spoon the cream cheese mixture into a pastry bag or large disposable bag, smooshing everything into one of the lower corners. You won’t need a pastry tip for this. If you’re using a disposable bag, snip about 1/2″ off the bottom corner of the bag.
- Spoon the whipped cream mixture into a pastry bag fitted with your favorite pastry tip. If you’re using a disposable bag, snip the tip off the corner of the bag and slide a pastry tip into the bag. (I usually tape the bag t the pastry tip from the outside or else the bag tends to tear.)
Set up all of your shooter cups & get ready to start filling each cup:
- Begin by filling each cup with a little of the cream cheese mixture;
- next spoon some of the apples into the cup
  - Repeat 3 times: cream cheese, apples, cream cheese, apples, cream cheese, apples.
  - Be sure to leave room at the top for the whipped cream.
- Once the cups are filled with cream cheese and apples, top each cup with a swirl of whipped cream.
This is optional, but I sprinkled each cup with cinnamon and then sprinkled some “fall” sprinkles on top of each cup.

How easy is that?! Super easy, I’m telling you!

They taste as good as they look! I made more than enough for the 10 of us and none of them made it back home with me- these caramel apple pie shooters are really good! Who wouldn’t love little apple pie in a cup?!

Mmmmm Mmmmm Good!

Ready for more goodness? Then you’ll want to take a look at these posts!

Brown Bag Apple Pie – loaded with so much yum there won’t be leftovers!
10 Keto Desserts That Will Make You Forget You’re Dieting
Strawberry Tart with a Graham Cracker Crust

If you love dessert then you’ll love our Dessert board on Pinterest! There are hundreds & hundreds of ideas to inspire your next baking day.

Caramel Apple Pie Shooters – An Easy & Tasty Dessert!