Mini Cheesecake

Who doesn't love a good cheesecake? But making a quality cheesecake takes time and patience...which, quite frankly I don’t have much time for. Not to mention quantity. There’s always recipes out with sooo many ingredients and it makes such a big cheesecake, and if you have a family like mine (2 adults, 2 toddlers) then you will be eating cheesecake for DAYSSS! (not that I'm complaining...)

I absolutely LOVE cheesecake, and I do enjoy making it for family and friends but occasionally I like to make some just for us. So here’s a recipe to make either 4 mini spring pans (4.75 di) or to make 12 mini cupcake cheesecakes.

Ingredients:

3 (8oz) pkg Cream Cheese (softened)

3 Eggs

½ cup Sugar (or sweetener of choice)

Zest of small lemon

1/2 Lemon Juice

1 tsp Vanilla

Crust:

12 to 15 Graham Crackers (ground)

1/2 Stick Salted Butter (melted)

1 tbsp Sugar

Method:

-In a mixer, mix together all the cheesecake ingredients until smooth.

-If using a cupcake tray, line with cupcake liners and then place cookie of choice at the bottom of each liner. (Nila wafers, chocolate chip, oreos, etc)

-If using 4.75 in diameter spring form mini pans, then mix the cookie crumbs, melted butter and sugar to resemble wet sand.

-The crust crumb mixture should cover 3 to 4 cheesecake pans.

-Divide and press the buttered crumb crust mixture firmly at the bottom of the pans and bake at 350'F for 7 to 10 minutes.

-Let the crust cool.

-Pour cream cheese batter over the cooled crust and place them in a 350 degree Fahrenheit preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

-Once cooked, pull out and let cool to room temperature then refrigerate for a couple hours before serving.

-Serve them plain or your favorite topping. (berries, powdered sugar, chocolate ganache, etc)

Tips:

**Citrus of choice may be used.

**Once cheesecake is no longer runny in the center, it is cooked.

**May be made into one large cheesecake. For this follow steps below:

1. Bake crust for 10 minutes at 350'F.

2. Let cool completely.

3. Line the bottom of your spring form pan with 2 layers of aluminum foil. (this helps and ensures no water leaking into your cheesecake while baking.

4. Pour your batter into your baked and cooled crust.

5. Place the spring form pan with your cheesecake batter into a deep 2 inch roasting pan.

6. Place the roasting pan with your spring form pan and cheesecake in the oven.

7. Carefully add 1 and 1/4 inch thick, of hot boiling water to the roasting pan. Making sure not to get any splatters or water into the cheesecake spring form pan.

8. Bake for about an hour.

9. Turn oven off and crack open the door and let it sit untouched for 30 mins to an hour,

10. Chill for 4 hours or overnight.

Below are the step by step picture instructions for the cheesecake. You can also turn this delicious cheesecake into a Gulab Jamun Cheesecake with this recipe here!

So in this recipe you will need softened cream cheese, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla, sugar or sweetener of choice (I like agave), and cookies of choice.

**Citrus of choice may be used!

In a blender add your softened cream cheese, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and sweetener of choice and blend until it’s smooth and creamy. Now in your mini spring form pans add your choice of cookies. Here I am using almond butter biscuits but anything works. If you’re making cupcakes, line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners and add any round cookie… nilla wafer, chocolate chip, or my kid’s favorite…Oreos!!! Now pour in your cheesecake batter over the cookies.

Placing your spring pans on a baking sheet add your cheesecakes to a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 20 mins.

You’re probably thinking…wait? No water bath? Is this really cheesecake? And the answer is YES! It’s really cheesecake with no water bath. Baking a cheesecake in a water bath is cruicial to have a nice creamy cheesecake with no cracks but when your cheesecake is so small there is no need to keep one. A water bath helps with keeping moisture in the oven while keeping the temp of the oven low, and that’s great for a larger sized cheesecake but when they are single portioned mini cheesecakes that cook in no time you can easily do without.

Now, if you’re making cupcakes just add your tray in at the same temperature and let it bake for 15 to 20 mins…checking to make sure they don’t over bake. To check if your cheesecake is cooked through, wiggle your tray to make sure the center is no longer jiggling.

Pull your cheesecakes out and let them cool completely before putting them in the refrigerator for a couple hours before serving.

Garnish with your favorite toppings…

Whether it be berries and powdered sugar, chocolate ganache or plain…now you can enjoy individual sized cheesecake without having the guilt of eating an entire full sized one.

Recipe Printable.