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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
Will this work for mini cheesecakes? These apparently use a regular cupcake pan? Am I confused? Have all the ones I’ve seen at weddings seem bite size! Help! I have to do these for September 14 wedding.
I make mini sized with this recipe. I use 1 half Tablespoon of crust mixture and one Tablespoon of cheesecake batter, baked at 140° F for 12 minutes. I also place an oven safe bowl with with at the bottom of my oven (gas). Hope this helps.
Can you use these recipes for a whole cheese cake and what additional ingredients do you add? How bout pumpkin che4ese cake . Thank you much
For a pumpkin flavored anything, the basic rules of thumb is add some allspice or a mix of nutmeg, cinnamon, and put some brown sugar in it to stimulate the pumpkin pie flavor.
I made these for my parents 50th wedding anniversary party. Followed the recipe exactly with the simple version and added a dollop of lemon curd on top with a raspberry. I quadrupled the recipe, froze the baked cheesecakes about a week before the event and then let them defrost in the fridge the day before the party. They were perfect! Â I received multiple compliments and raves. Would definitely make these again and also try the other variations. Â These were delicious! Thank you.Â
can these be made ahead of time (about a week) and frozen? i am wanting to do these for my wedding reception
I made these ahead and froze them with the paper cups attached. Defrosted them the day before and removed the cupcake papers before serving. They were a huge hit!!Â
what if i didn’t put sour cream in the batter? is it okay or does it have any effect?
I’ve substituted peanut butter for sour cream before, all the sour cream does is prevent cracking, provide a bit of moisture, and add a little tang to it.
Can I add fruit purée like strawberry or blue berry to this recipe?Â
The first time I made these they were perfect! It was my first time making cheesecake and I couldn’t believe how yummy they were! However I’ve tried to repeat it and keep messing it up haha. I’m using a darker pan with cupcake cups in it. So I’m thinking maybe I am just over baking them slightly? I think the first time I did 15 min and the texture was great. This time did 18 min and they were just slightly over baked. Still good though!Â
I also mixed everything by hand so if you don’t have a hand mixer, don’t fear! I always top them with lemon curd. Yum!
Fantastic recipe! I love that it is for just 12 and you can make different varieties out of one batch. Additional variation is to add 1 Tblspn cocoa powder and 3 drops red food coloring for a red velvet. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you for sharing your recipes. Â Do you happen to have any suggestions on making a German chocolate cheesecake bite?
The flavor of these little cheesecakes were outstanding. They were certainly a hit with everyone. My only issue was I ran out of the batter so it only ended up making 10 instead of 12. I will be making them again but with a little extra cream cheese mix to fill the whole muffin pan. 🙂
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