Creamy, sweet, and coconut-flavored parfaits are excellent to enjoy for Easter. Mini parfaits are great small desserts to make and share during this special holiday. The blend of graham crackers, cream cheese, and coconut in a mini dessert cup is a sweet and savory dessert.
Easter Desserts
Easter is a beautiful time of the year in the states where the spring season begins to flourish, and a variety of delicious foods are made for this holiday. Various meat dishes, stuffed eggs, spring vegetables, and Easter desserts are common Easter food items. Different types of creative Easter desserts are made for this special holiday. Carrot cake is a common and popular Easter cake option. Other Easter desserts include chocolate Easter eggs, lemon cake, and Easter-themed parfaits. Easter parfaits can consist of fruit, creamy yogurt mixtures, chocolate, or granola.
Coconut Cream Cheese Mini Parfaits
Coconut cream cheese mini parfaits are small parfaits made in mini dessert cups with a combination of layers including graham cracker mixture, cream cheese mixture, coconut flakes, and topped with cookies and cream eggs.
Mini dessert cups are ideal-sized desserts that can satisfy one’s sweet craving within a few tasty bites. There are three main parts to making this delicious parfait. This includes making the graham cracker mixture and the cream cheese mixture. Then adding food coloring to the coconut flakes. The final part includes assembling the parfait layers. Assembling the parfaits can be an enjoyable experience and a creative Easter activity.
Coconut Cream Cheese Mini Parfaits Ingredients
Graham Crackers: The essential ingredient for graham cracker mixture. Mildly sweet, toasty, warm-flavored crackers with a crunchy texture. Alternatives: vanilla wafers, sweet biscuit cookies, or animal crackers.
Butter (Unsalted Butter): A great butter option used for baking. Buttery and lightly sweet with a smooth and creamy texture. Alternative: margarine.
Cinnamon (Ground Cinnamon): This common fall seasoning is an excellent spice to use year-round. A dash of cinnamon adds a warm, sweet-spicy flavor to the graham cracker mixture. Alternative: nutmeg.
Cream Cheese: The main ingredient for the cream cheese mixture. Mild flavor with a smooth and creamy texture.
Yogurt (Greek Yogurt): A great ingredient to add to the cream cheese mixture. Tangy and lightly creamy. Alternative: milk.
Sugar (Powdered Sugar): A great sugar type to add to cream cheese mixtures for creating a smooth texture. Sweet and soft powdery texture.
Vanilla Extract: Sweet, vanilla flavor with a thin consistency. Alternative: coconut extract.
Coconut (Sweet Coconut Flakes): Lightly sweet coconut flavor and a soft, slightly chewy texture.
Food Coloring (Blue, Green, and Orange Food Coloring): This adds color to the coconut flakes that is flavorless and has a thin, watery consistency.
Cookies n Cream Eggs: Small eggs are great toppings for Easter dishes. They add a touch of Easter. Small, creamy, bite-sized eggs with a sweet blend of white chocolate.
Coconut Cream Cheese Mini Parfaits Instructions
Graham Cracker Mixture
In a small bowl, add half a stick of butter. (¼ cup of butter)
Melt the butter in the microwave. (For about 30 seconds or until melted.)
Add the graham crackers to a food processor. (Alternatives for graham cracker crumbs: blender or adding the crackers to a zip-lock bag and using a kitchen utensil such as a rolling pin to crush the crackers.) (7 paired rectangle graham crackers)
Process the graham crackers to crumbs.
Add ground cinnamon and the melted butter.
Process again the graham cracker crumbs, ground cinnamon, and melted butter until combined.
Cream Cheese Mixture
In a bowl, add cream cheese and Greek yogurt.
Mix until smooth. (Use a hand mixer or stand mixer.)
Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract.
Mix again until smooth.
Coconut Flakes
*Note: The yellow food coloring from the purchased food coloring box appears orange and not yellow. Therefore, in this recipe, I refer to the yellow food coloring to orange.
1/3 cup of coconut flakes for each bowl.
In a small bowl, add the coconut flakes. Add 10 drops of blue food coloring.Mix with a fork until the coconut color changes.
In a small bowl, add the coconut flakes. Add 10 drops of green food coloring.Mix with a fork until the coconut color changes.
In a small bowl, add the coconut flakes. Add 10 drops of orange food coloring.Mix with a fork until the coconut color changes.
Ingredients for coconut cream cheese mini parfaits.
Assemble the Coconut Cream Cheese Mini Parfaits.
For each layer, about a tablespoon of the graham cracker and cream cheese mixture. For the coconut flakes, about 1/2 tablespoon. There is no precise measurement for the parfaits; the measurements provided are for a general guide. Feel free to add more or less of the ingredients to each of the layers.
As for the coconut flakes color, any color can be added to each layer. There is no specific order of color for this recipe. Feel free to add the desired colors for each parfait.
1st layer: add the graham cracker mixture.
2nd layer: add the cream cheese mixture.
3rd layer: add the colored coconut flakes.
4th layer: add the graham cracker mixture.
5th layer: add the cream cheese mixture.
6th layer: add the colored coconut flakes.
Topping: top with cookies and cream eggs.
Topping: add graham cracker cookie.
Assembled Coconut Cream Cheese Mini Parfaits
Storage
Parfaits can be stored in the refrigerator, though the ingredients may soften and may not be as fresh and firm as when initially made. Parfait containers, or airtight containers, can be used for parfait storage in the refrigerator. Freezing the parfaits is also a great longer storage option. Store the parfaits in freezer-safe jars, then in airtight containers or freezer bags.
Thoughts
The Easter holiday is recognized as a special holiday by many people around the world. It is also an excellent time to recreate and make Easter holiday dishes, especially desserts. There are a wide variety of Easter dessert recipe ideas. Mini parfaits are great desserts to make for their size and simplicity. I wanted to make a small and simple dessert for Easter. For this Easter, I opted to make Easter-themed parfaits. The spring-colored coconut flakes and the cookies and cream eggs give the parfaits Easter Spring flavors.
🥄Spoonful of coconut cream cheese mini parfait with cookies and cream egg.
Recipe
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Mixture
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup melted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Mixture
8 ounces cream cheese
½ cup Greek yogurt
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Coconut
1 cup coconut flakes
Topping
Cookies and cream eggs
Graham cracker cookies
Instructions
Graham cracker mixture. Melt the butter in the microwave. Add the graham crackers to a food processor. Process until crumbs. Then add the ground cinnamon and melted butter. Process again until combined.
Cream cheese mixture. In a bowl, add the cream cheese and Greek yogurt. Mix until smooth. Then add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Mix again until combined and smooth.
Shredded flakes. In a small bowl, add the coconut flakes. Add 10 drops of blue food coloring. Mix with a fork until combined. Repeat with the green and orange food coloring.
Assemble the parfaits. 1st layer: add the graham cracker mixture. 2nd layer: add the cream cheese mixture. 3rd layer: add colored coconut flakes. Repeat the process for each layer. Toppings. Add a few cookies and cream eggs and graham cracker cookies.
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