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MINI CHEESECAKES
If you know anything about me, my favorite of all desserts are cheesecakes. I cannot explain my love for the creamy, sweet and thick center paired with the crunchy foundation of the crust; then there's the toppings which can be anything your heart desires.
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I love cheesecakes of all kinds, including no bake, cheesecake parfaits, baked, store bought, homemade, you name it! What I particularly love about these cheesecakes are how simple they are to make, they are basically no fail, take little time to bake and cool, and needs no water bath!
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A typical baked cheesecake is best when a water bath is used, and also takes quite a while to bake along with specific temperature changed to ensure no cracking. We will be baking these at 350 F and they can be removed immediately after baking, reducing cooling time.
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We hope they can become a staple on your dinner table and during your holiday season.
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Mini cheesecakes are perfect little individual sized portions. These are great for any dessert platter, tray, given as gifts, or just as a quick snack. We are baking these in our cupcake/muffin pan lined with cupcake liners. Baking them in a muffin tin makes our baking time a lot shorter than a water-bath baked whole cheesecake.
CRUST: Our crust consists of either graham crackers, or digestive biscuits. You can also use whole cookies such as a Golden Oreo, or another flavor you'd like.
CREAM CHEESE: Cream cheese is our main ingredient for our filling. Any brand of cream cheese works great; however, I would recommend using whole cream cheese, not a law-fat version.
CONDENSED MILK: In this recipe, we are using condensed milk as out sweetener. It also adds an extra level of creaminess to our filling. When the sweetened condensed milk is combined with the lemon juice and the cream cheese, a reaction occurs which helps thicken it up and stabilizes our filling.
EGGS: While eggs are an important part of our filling, it is crucial to add your eggs last and don't overmix your batter! Once the eggs are added and you mix it, it is important not to add too much air into your batter. Too much air in your batter will cause your cheesecakes to crack.
DON'T OVER MIX.
DON'T OVER BAKE: Our baking time is also important. Note we are not using a water bath in our mini cheesecake, so to ensure a creamy cheesecake we have to be careful with our baking time.
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Graham crackers, cream cheese, condensed milk, lemon- some of the ingredients in these min cheesecakes. The lemon adds that flavor which complements the tanginess of the cream cheese, while the condensed milk adds not only sweetness, but an extra layer of creaminess to our cheesecakes.
Graham crackers are what I've used in this recipe video to make the crust layer.
However, after years of making these and then finally being able to find digestive biscuits in the grocery stores, I now use those. However, you can use either digestive biscuits or graham crackers in this recipe but if I do have to recommend digestive biscuits if you can get your hands on those!
Making these mini cheesecakes are a perfect little dessert for any occasion, but also as a gift they are beautiful little cupcake-like cheesecakes.
Garnish with fresh fruit, or in my case i like to use pie filling plus a strawberry cut in half for extra added flair.
1. Pre-heat oven t0 350 degrees F
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2. Run graham crackers through a food processor until they become fine crumbs, or place graham crackers in a sealed bag and using a rolling pin to turn crackers until fine crumbs.
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3. Add ground cinnamon and mix well with the crumbs.
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4. Pour in butter over crumbs and mix well until it looks like wet sand.
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5. Line cupcake pan with liners.
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6. Add in 2 tablespoons of your crumbs into each cupcake liner.
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7. Using the back of a measuring cup press down crumbs to make an even layer.
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8. With cream cheese at room temperature, cream together using a hand, or stand mixer. You can also you a whisk. Cream well until nice and smooth.
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6. Add in sweetened condensed milk and mix well until thoroughly combined.
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7. Add in zest of one lemon, juice of one lemon, vanilla and sour cream. Mix and cream until everything is combined.
You can also substitute for 1 teaspoon of lemon extract for the lemon extract and juice. Mix well.
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8. Add in one egg at a time and mix until incorporated. Do not overmix your eggs.
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9. Place into oven at 350 F for 18 minutes.
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10. Remove and set aside to cool completely before refrigerating.
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11. After cooling, serve with canned fruit (I used canned strawberry filling), fresh fruit, caramel syrup, whipped cream, fruit compote or any topping of your choice.
