Dessert Shots: 9 Creamy Shooters That Double as the Sweet Course

Stack any two of butterscotch schnapps, Irish cream, crème de cacao, or peppermint schnapps in a shot glass and you’ve made something closer to a truffle than a drink. A whole family of shooters lives in that corner of the liquor store, and it gets ordered when the kitchen has closed but the table isn’t done.

Nine of the best, sweetest first.

9 dessert shots & shooters

Buttery Nipple

Butterscotch schnapps with Irish cream floated on top. Two ingredients, tastes like melted butterscotch candy. The gateway dessert shot. See recipe

Cinnamon schnapps, butterscotch schnapps, and Baileys. Genuinely tastes like the cookie, warm spice and all. See recipe

Butterball

Butterscotch schnapps and amaretto, half and half. Butterscotch-almond, smooth as anything on this list. See recipe

Cinnamon Roll

Baileys with a shot of cinnamon schnapps through it. Frosting first, spice on the finish. See recipe

Duck Fart

Amaretto, Irish cream, and Tennessee whiskey, layered. The whiskey keeps it from getting too polite. See recipe

Same layering trick, different punchline: the Baby Guinness stacks Irish cream on coffee liqueur until it photographs like a tiny stout, and the B-52 adds orange liqueur for the three-stripe classic.

Dirty Girl Scout

Vodka, white crème de menthe, Baileys, and coffee liqueur. A Thin Mint with a kick. See recipe

Pro tip: Shake it hard with ice. This one wants to be cold and a little frothy, like a mint milkshake.

Peppermint schnapps, crème de cacao, and cream. The gentler, creamier cousin of the one above. See recipe

Polar Bear

Crème de cacao and peppermint schnapps. Chocolate-mint in its simplest possible form. See recipe

Peppermint Patty

Peppermint schnapps stirred into hot chocolate. Not a shot glass in sight, but it’s the same idea in winter form, and it’s too good to leave off. See recipe

Four more from the candy aisle

These bring in coconut rum, spiced rum, and sour apple schnapps. Every one still tastes like something out of a Halloween bag.

Almond Joy

Coconut rum, amaretto, crème de cacao, and half-and-half, shaken. Coconut, almond, chocolate: the candy bar, in order. See recipe

Pro tip: The recipe makes about four and a half ounces. Split it across three shot glasses, or drop the amaretto and you have a Mounds Bar Shot.

Maple Syrup Shot

Butterscotch schnapps and Captain Morgan, half and half, stirred over cracked ice. The rum’s vanilla reads as maple against the butterscotch. See recipe

Pro tip: The Buttery Nipple for people who find the Buttery Nipple too sweet. The rum dries it out.

Caramel Apple

Butterscotch schnapps and DeKuyper Sour Apple Pucker, chilled in a shaker. Green apple dipped in caramel. See recipe

Pro tip: Hold the ratio at three quarters of an ounce of butterscotch to a full ounce of apple, or the caramel takes over.

Dark crème de cacao, butterscotch schnapps, and brandy in a mug of hot chocolate, whipped cream on top. The Peppermint Patty’s cousin, and the higher-rated of the two. See recipe

Pro tip: Make the hot chocolate with milk. Thin cocoa can’t carry an ounce and a half of liquor.

If you’re missing a bottle

The category runs on cheap liqueurs that behave alike, so swaps rarely ruin anything.

Butterscotch schnapps: DeKuyper Buttershots is the standard. Caramel vodka works in the Caramel Apple and Maple Syrup Shot, but at 30% instead of 15% the shot gets sharper.
Irish cream: Carolans or Kerrygold pour identically. RumChata fits the Oatmeal Cookie (cinnamon horchata), less so the Buttery Nipple.
Peppermint schnapps: White crème de menthe is sweeter and lower proof. Rumple Minze is 100 proof; use two-thirds as much.
Crème de cacao: Dark and white taste nearly the same; dark tints a layered shot, white keeps it clean. Godiva-style chocolate liqueur is thicker and sinks to the bottom.
Cinnamon schnapps: Fireball, Hot Damn, and Goldschläger are interchangeable here. Goldschläger is the strongest at 43.5%.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best dessert shots?

The Buttery Nipple and Oatmeal Cookie are the crowd favorites: cheap bottles, two or three ingredients, and flavors everyone recognizes. The Butterball is the sleeper pick.

Do creamy shots curdle?

Irish cream curdles when it meets acid, so keep it away from citrus and sour mixers. With schnapps, cacao, and coffee liqueur it’s completely stable.

Can you make dessert shots ahead of time?

The shaken ones, yes: mix, refrigerate, and pour within a few hours. Layered shots like the Duck Fart have to be built at serving time or the layers blur.

What bottles do I need for dessert shots?

Butterscotch schnapps, Irish cream, peppermint schnapps, and crème de cacao cover almost everything here. All four are inexpensive and keep for ages.

How do you layer a dessert shot?

Heaviest, sweetest liqueur first, then float the lighter one over the back of a spoon held against the inside of the glass. Butterscotch schnapps sits under Irish cream; coffee liqueur sits under almost everything. Our layered shots post goes deeper.

How strong are dessert shots?

Weaker than a shot of whiskey. Schnapps runs 15 to 24% alcohol and Irish cream is 17%, so a Buttery Nipple lands around 16%. The ones with a real spirit in them, like the Duck Fart and Dirty Girl Scout, climb to the mid-20s.

Dessert shots are the closer’s move: the round that arrives when the kitchen’s shut and lands better than actual cake. Keep butterscotch schnapps and Irish cream on hand and you’re always two pours away. The candy shots list is the same shelf minus the cream, and there are more shots and shooters whenever you’re ready.

Last modified on September 3, 2026