#SawPinnedConquered: Fruit Cookie Cups

I have been waiting a few weeks to share this recipe with you, and am beyond excited! I mean seriously, how beautiful are these babies?! Alas, I cannot take credit for this, but rather my sister-in-law Megan.  It started off as her amazing fruit pizza, and thanks to Pinterest, morphed into the most beautiful dessert you will ever make.

While planning the menu for game night, Meg remembered seeing these beauties on Pinterest, and decided it was a great way to take her fruit pizza and make it finger food.  I immediately stole the idea and took it to Thanksgiving dinner.  Another immediate success!

When we made these at Meg's house, we used the fruit she had on hand, mandarin oranges, green grapes, blueberries, and strawberries.  Since I had none of that on hand, I bought all that plus kiwi. 

I did alter my recipe slightly as I preferred less cream cheese filling and more fruit, using 1/3 less than Meg's recipe. Our filling is completely different than the filling in the original pin, which uses Cool Whip (I'm not a fan!)

Fruit Cookie Cups
Source: Adapted from Original Source
Makes: 24 Mini-Cups

Ingredients:

1      Package Pillsbury Refrigerated Sugar Cookie Dough
1      8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/4   cup sugar
1/2   tsp vanilla
Assorted Fruits, chopped to equal size

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 24-count mini-muffin pan (or use liners)
2.) Slice sugar cookie dough into 24 equal parts, roll into a ball, and place in each muffin cup
3.) Using your thumb, mold the sugar cookie dough into the shape of the muffin tin, ensuring they stay equal thickness
4.) Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Watch them!
5.) Remove from oven when golden brown. They will be puffy, but will lose that upon cooling. Once cool, transfer to a serving platter, tray, etc. 
6.) Mix the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract together in a mixture. Pipe into the cooled cookies.  Top with fruit.

Here are a few tips:
-I spooned my cream cheese mixture into a ziplock bag, clipped the corner, and piped the 24 muffins.
-Meg's version just multiplied the above by 1.5
-Remove the cookies from the muffin pan before you decorate them!
-Removal can be tricky. A tip: push down slightly on the outside rim of the cookie, and rotate slightly, unsticking it from the pan.

I highly recommend making these, they are simple to prepare and are completely delicious!