Mint Julep Pudding Shots

Mint Julep Pudding Shots are a perfect small bite sweet for your Kentucky Derby Party or any Southern gathering.

We love pudding shots because they’re a small bite dessert just for the grown ups. We’ve made Key Lime Pie Pudding Shots and Mudslide Pudding Shots, but with the Kentucky Derby coming up, we just had to create some with mint julep flavors.

What is a mint julep?

A mint julep is a cocktail consisting primarily of bourbon, sugar, water, crushed or shaved ice, and fresh mint.

As a bourbon-based cocktail, it is associated with the American South and the cuisine of the Southern United States in general, and the Kentucky Derby in particular.

Ingredients and Substitutions

On their own, mint juleps are a pretty strong, bourbon-heavy cocktail. For the pudding shots, we want to incorporate some other flavors in there so they don’t taste like a cocktail being eaten with a spoon.

This starts out with the vanilla pudding. I love using vanilla because it doesn’t overpower the other flavors and it leaves the mint julep pudding shots having a light tan color similar to the light brown of the cocktail. You could also use chocolate pudding if you love the chocolate-mint flavor combination.

We also used cool whip in this recipe to add extra creaminess and to lighten up the flavors. You can use homemade whipped cream as well if you’re feeling fancy!

The mint flavor in our pudding shots comes from peppermint schnapps. We know some people love to make these with creme de menthe, but we didn’t want the shots to have a green tint. We prefer to keep a more natural looking color and letting the fresh mint leaf on top really shine.

How to Make Mint Julep Pudding Shots

You will start out by making the pudding. Following the directions on the package, we’ll just be subbing booze for some of the milk.

The package calls for 2 cups of cold milk, so we’ll instead be using 1-½ cups milk, 3 ounces bourbon, and 1 ounce of peppermint schnapps for a total of 2 cups of liquid. Blend this together with a hand mixer or whisk and let it sit for 5 minutes to set.

Fold in the cool whip until well blended. Then, divide the pudding shots into about 15 2 oz cups of your choice. Chill the shots at least 2 hours before serving.

Right before serving garnish with a little more whipped topping and fresh mint leaves.

Items You May Need

The first item you’ll need is a hand mixer. Then, you’ll need 2 ounce cups for servings. Here you have a few options:

We love regular shot glasses for a nice dinner party, but disposable shot glasses are better if you’re serving a lot of people or want to simplify the clean up process. Plastic ramekins with lids aren’t the prettiest, but they’re perfect if you plan on making them at home and then transporting them to a party.

You’ll also need some cute mini spoons for serving them!

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Storage

These mint julep pudding shots can be kept for up to 5 days covered in the fridge, or up to 2 months in the freezer. We’ve also discovered that they’re delicious frozen, so try them that way, too!

More Ideas for a Kentucky Derby Party

• Bacon Jalapeno Deviled Eggs
• Ritz Carlton Inspired Pecans
• Mini Lemon Tarts
• Pickled Okra
• Bourbon Glazed Cajun Beef Tenderloin

Bourbon is not just for cocktails!

If you’ve been around for long, you know that we adore bourbon, not only for drinking, but also for cooking! If you’re a bourbon lover, you’ll definitely want to check out our collection of cocktails with bourbon and our recipes with bourbon.

Google Web Story of the Pudding Shots

Bourbon, Bourbon, and More Bourbon