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Easy mini cheesecakes, in 5 different flavors! This simple cheesecake recipe makes 12 perfect mini cheesecakes, in virtually any flavor you want! Lemon, Oreo, S’mores, Fruit, Peanut Butter Cup – any mini cheesecake recipe you want to make can be ready in no time at all.
Mini Cheesecakes so many ways!
Today I’m bringing you lots of CHEESECAKE in lots of different flavors! These are MINI cheesecakes, my favorite things ever.
Make the easy mini cheesecakes for every season, to every liking, or have a cheesecake bar at your next party.
Why you’ll love this recipe
The BEST thing about this easy mini cheesecakes recipe? You just need the one basic cheesecake recipe and you can easily turn it into about a million other recipes.
To change up the flavors of this cheesecake, the easiest way to do it is in the crust. I’ve given a basic graham cracker crust recipe, but I also love using Oreos as the crust, or any cookie. There’s not even any mixing needed with that option, just use the full cookie as the crust.
Ingredients in Easy Cheesecake Bites
The basic crust combines graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and brown sugar. You can also use Oreos or similar sized cookies as the crust – see some of the variations below.
The basic cheesecake filling recipe starts with cream cheese, egg, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Then you can doctor it at your pleasure to make so many other flavors, or leave it plain and save the transformations for the garnish.
How to make Mini Cheesecakes
- Make your crust: If you’re using a graham cracker crust, stir together graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and sugar.
- Line muffin pans with liners for easy removal. Press some of the crust into each liner, or place a cookie in the bottom instead.
- Mix cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar until smooth. Mix in egg and vanilla and any flavorings.
- Divide into muffin pans and bake until puffed and no longer glossy. Cool to room temperature then chill at least 4 hours.
- Top as desired with pie filling, ice cream, chocolate sauce, caramel or anything you like.
Favorite Mini Cheesecake Flavors
- Mini Lemon Cheesecakes: Lemon is my absolute favorite, obviously. I love pairing lemon cheesecake with a Golden Oreo crust because the flavors compliment each other nicely. Feel free to use the plain cheesecake recipe and then just top with lemon curd, but you can also add some fresh lemon zest to the cheesecake batter. It amps up the flavor of the lemon!
- Mini Oreo Cheesecakes: These have an Oreo crust and the basic cheesecake filling full of chopped Oreos.
- Candy IN Cheesecake Bites: You can put a whole mini cup in the cheesecake, on top of the Oreo crust, or you can chop up some peanut butter cups to mix with the batter. I can’t wait to try Milky Way or Kit Kat cheesecakes!
Expert Tips
- Make sure your cream cheese is room temperature before starting to avoid lumps. It’s also best if your eggs and sour cream are room temperature too.
- Do not use low fat ingredients.
- Use a regular sized Muffin pan and use cupcake liners for easy removal.
- It’s best to use a Hand mixer or stand mixer to ensure you’ll have no lumps.
FAQs
Be sure not to overmix, don’t overfill the muffin liners, and don’t over bake the cheesecakes.
They’ll be slightly puffed and no longer wet-looking.
No, cheesecake bites will bake just fine without a water bath because the amount of batter is so small.
Freeze these in an airtight container for up to 2 months or store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Easy Mini Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
Basic Graham Crust:
- 1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 3 tablespoons (38g) brown sugar
- 5 tablespoons (70g) unsalted butter melted
- *See Note for additional crust ideas*
Basic Cheesecake Filling:
- 8 ounces (226g) cream cheese room temperature
- 1 large egg room temperature
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (62g) sour cream room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- *See Note for additional filling and topping ideas*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Make the graham cracker crust: Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press about 2-2 1/2 tablespoons of the mixture into the bottom of each muffin liner and press to compact.
- Beat room temperature cream cheese with a hand mixer until fluffy. Beat in room temperature sour cream. Beat in egg, sugar, and vanilla extract. (Room temperature ingredients are a must to avoid lumps!)
- Evenly divide (about 2-2 1/2 tablespoons each) cheesecake among crusts. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until they just begin to brown. Cool completely and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Serve plain or topped with whipped cream and berries. See notes for additional serving suggestions.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
- Crust: instead of a graham cracker crust you can use 12 Oreos (any flavor). Just place them (whole) into each cupcake liner and they will form the crust.
- Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecakes: use an Oreo cookie for the crust. Chop up 6 regular sized peanut butter cups and sprinkle them into the batter in step 3. Alternately, use 12 Reese’s Minis and place one on top of each Oreo before dividing filling. Top cooled cheesecakes with chocolate sauce and more peanut butter cups.
- Oreo Cheesecakes: use an Oreo cookie for the crust. Chop 4 additional Oreos finely and stir into the cheesecake batter before step 4. Continue as directed.
- Lemon Cheesecakes: use either a graham cracker crust or a Golden Oreo cookie for the crust. Optional: add 1 teaspoon lemon zest to the batter in step 3. Top cooled cheesecakes with lemon curd and fruit.
- Plain: Top plain cheesecakes with hot fudge, caramel, whipped cream, or pie filling.
Recipe Nutrition
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Last Updated on April 30, 2023
Ahhh! Very true! I’ve been baking for months now and I got way bigger than I used to be! Haha My friends just couldn’t believe it.
I always tell them that if what I’m baking weren’t that good I would never get fat from em. Haha
Btw, I love love cheesecakes and seeing this today makes me wanna run into my kitchen! Haha I wonder if there’s something I can use inplace of sour cream? I have everything now except the sour cream 🙁 don’t have yogurt too.
Right? My mom always said “don’t trust a skinny chef” LOL!
Wow! That looks delicious & seems so easy to make. Thanks for sharing .
Dorothy, the mini cheesecakes look scrumptious! Can you freeze them?
Rather than dieting I recommend making lifestyle changes by slowly one thing at a time eliminating unhealthy life choices and adding healthier practices (like getting enough sleep). The first year, I gave up drinking soft drinks for Lent and have stayed off of them since then. I have added one more change each year since then and it is slowly working. The way I’m doing it is not fast but I’m hoping it will be permanent. Good luck with your weight loss goal! Go with what choices you can live with!
Yes you can totally freeze them, plain. Some of the flavors too (but nothing with a topping like the lemon curd). Enjoy!
The struggle is real! It’s so hard to be a food blogger and try to lose weight! I start my little healthier eating/exercise plan tomorrow, and all I want are these cheesecakes!
I’m just trying one thing at a time…last week I went without bread and crackers (except yesterday, lol). It was easier than I thought…I’ll do that for a week or two then move onto something else!
My family started Whole 30 on March 1st (even bought the cookbook beforehand); my husband is still on it. After 3 days, my daughter and I couldn’t take it anymore. We are switching to Weight Watchers, which is sustainable and healthy and reasonable. I love that you made these small desserts – how handy to enjoy one of my favorite desserts but not have too much around to tempt me.
Yeah my husband is good at Whole 30 but there is NO way I can do it! WW works if you follow it, Mel did that too.
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