These mini cheesecakes are the perfect one-bite treat! Start with a traditional graham cracker crust, add on a layer of rich cheesecake filling, and finish with a variety of toppings.
These easy mini cheesecakes are ideal for parties. Instead of cutting everyone a tiny sliver of cheesecake, guests can grab a cheesecake bite—or maybe two so they can try a few different toppings. And, rather than make those toppings from scratch, I simply use some store-bought options like jam and caramel sauce, which makes it easy to present several options.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Sweet and simple. Rich, creamy vanilla cheesecake filling pairs so well with a sweet, crumbly graham cracker crust – it’s a simple but tried-and-true combination!
- Easy to make. You’ll need 3 ingredients for the crust and just 4 more for the filling, plus your favorite toppings. So, don’t worry if you’re a beginner in the baking world, this recipe is well within your grasp.
- Perfect for any event. You can make these cheesecake bites for birthdays, family get-togethers, holiday parties, etc. They’re guaranteed crowd-pleasers!
- Adaptable. There are so many toppings that you can pair with these mini vanilla cheesecakes. Caramel, chocolate sauce, chopped nuts… the list goes on and on. For more ideas, check out the section below.
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
Graham Cracker Crust:
- Graham cracker crumbs – You can either make your own graham cracker crumbs in a food processor and then measure the correct amount, or purchase a package of graham cracker crumbs.
- Granulated sugar
- Unsalted butter – Learn more by reading up on Unsalted or Salted Butter: Which is Better for Baking?
Cheesecake Filling:
- Cream cheese – Use full-fat blocks of cream cheese (not the kind that comes in a tub) and let it come to room temperature so it blends easily.
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract – Use store-bought or homemade vanilla extract.
Topping Options:
- Preserves – I used raspberry, blueberry, and apricot in these photos.
- Caramel sauce
- Chocolate ganache – Use the ganache recipe in my chocolate ganache brownies.
- Whipped cream – Store-bought or homemade whipped cream are both fine, as is frozen whipped topping, which will hold up better in the fridge if you’re making mini cheesecakes a few days in advance.
- Canned pie filling – Spoon a little on top of each cheesecake for an easy topping option.
- Chopped nuts, sprinkles, and toffee bits
How Many Graham Crackers Make a Cup of Crumbs?
If you’re using the large “sheets” of graham crackers that are perforated to form 4 smaller crackers, you will need 7 or 8 sheets for each cup of graham cracker crumbs in a recipe. If you’re using another type of graham cracker, about 100 grams of graham crackers will produce a cup of crumbs.
How to Make Mini Cheesecakes
The beauty of these mini cheesecake bites is they’re a lot less fussy than a standard-size cheesecake, which means you don’t need a waterbath and they’re much less likely to crack. (And if they do have small cracks on the top, you’ll be hiding them with the toppings anyway.)
Start With the Crust:
- Prepare. Preheat your oven to 350°F and generously grease a 12-cup mini cheesecake pan or line a 24-cup mini muffin pan with paper liners.
- Make the crust mixture. Stir together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a small mixing bowl. (I prefer a thick crust, but you can scale this back if you want them thinner.)
- Form the crusts. Divide the crust mixture into the muffin or cheesecake pan cups, then press it into the bottom and about halfway up the sides. If you have a tart tamper, it works wonderfully here.
Make the Filling and Finish:
- Beat the filling ingredients. Use an electric mixer on medium-low speed to beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until the filling is completely smooth.
- Bake. Divide the cheesecake batter into the muffin cups, then bake 12 to 14 minutes, or until set.
- Cool. Let the cheesecakes cool to room temperature before chilling in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, then add your desired toppings and return to the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.
Mini Cheesecake Pan vs. Mini Muffin Pan
Both of these pan options will work for this recipe, but unless you plan on making mini cheesecakes often, you’re probably better off using a mini muffin pan instead of buying a mini cheesecake pan.
A mini cheesecake pan is much like a mini muffin pan, but with removable bottoms. The pan has a hole in the bottom of each compartment, and a small disc is used to cover the hole. When the cheesecakes are done, you can use the handle of a wooden spoon or your finger to push the cheesecakes up and out of the pan. This makes the cheesecakes much easier to remove and eliminates the need for using liners.
You’ll also get a more traditional cheesecake shape with the mini cheesecake pan, as the muffin pan cups flare outwards.
Whichever option you use, your mini cheesecakes will be delicious!
Tips for Success
- Let the cream cheese come to room temperature. This is the best way to make sure your filling blends smoothly, without any lumps.
- Don’t overmix the filling. You might think because there’s no flour in the filling, you can’t overmix it, but that’s not the case! Mixing too long will introduce too much air, which can make your mini cheesecakes fall and crack.
- Use liners in the muffin tin. While you can often go without them when making cupcakes and muffins as long as you grease the pan enough, cheesecake is much more difficult to remove in one piece.
Variations
- Swap in a cookie crust. Instead of graham cracker crumbs, use Oreo or chocolate wafer crumbs.
- Make festive mini cheesecakes for the holidays. Top the ganache or whipped cream with crushed candy canes.
- Top with your favorite chopped candy bars. Make candy bar themed mini cheesecakes and top them with chopped Snickers, Butterfingers, Reese’s cups, etc.
- Go simple with fresh fruit. A strawberry or raspberry on top is a beautiful finishing touch.
Proper Storage
- Refrigerator. Store mini cheesecakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. Let them come to room temperature before serving for the best taste and texture.
- Freezer. These cheesecake bites freeze beautifully; store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months and let them thaw in the refrigerator before serving.
More Mini Cheesecake Recipes
Mini Cheesecakes
Mini Cheesecakes are bite-size versions of everyone's favorite dessert. Made with a sweet, crumbly graham cracker crust, a rich vanilla cheesecake filling, and the toppings of your choice!
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 & 1/2 cups (150g) graham cracker crumbs
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
- 8 ounces (226g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the toppings:
- Fruit preserves
- Caramel sauce
- Chocolate ganache
- Whipped cream
- Chopped nuts
- Sprinkles
- Toffee bits
Instructions
To make the crust:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 12-cup mini cheesecake pan or line a 24-cup mini muffin pan with paper liners.
- Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter until combined. Press the crust into the bottom and about halfway up the sides of the prepared pan.
To make the filling:
- Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until well-blended and smooth.
- Divide the batter evenly, pouring or spooning it over the crusts. Bake 12-14 minutes or until set.
- Cool the cheesecakes completely. Chill for at least 2 hours, then add your desired toppings. Serve immediately or return the topped mini cheesecakes to the refrigerator until you're ready to serve them.
Notes
- To refrigerate. Store mini cheesecakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. Let them come to room temperature before serving for the best taste and texture.
- To freeze. These cheesecake bites freeze beautifully; store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months and let them thaw in the refrigerator before serving.
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24 Comments on “Mini Cheesecakes”
These look great! I loved the mini cherry cheesecakes I made and I’ve been trying to think of what to try next. This post gives me some great ideas 🙂
Excellent. I am such a big fan of the mini food movement.
Those are soooooooo cute! I want to squish them and eat them all!!!
We make mini cheesecakes often – you know, the ones in the cupcake liners. These look much more fantastic, however!
They are so cute! I love mini anythings!
wow i’ve never heard of a mini-cheesecake pan! i’ve only made them in cupcake liners too…
yours looks awesome!
A coworker of mine who’s leaving for LA this weekend requested strawberry cheesecake cupcakes as a going-away present (I’m the cupcake baker at work :p). This is probably the best candidate for a recipe I’ve found, but I’ve never experimented with altering recipes before. Do you think substituting 1/2 of the vanilla with strawberry extract, and then just topping them with strawberries, would suffice? And could I bake them in cupcake liners?
Sara, I think that would work. The extract would give the cheesecake a bit of strawberry flavor. Topping with strawberries would be so pretty. Or you could mix strawberry preserves with white chocolate. Certainly, the cupcake liners would work. This pan I used eliminates the need for them, but with a muffin pan I would highly recommend using liners.
Oh wow, these things taste so good — and the substitutions worked perfectly. Thanks loads for sharing!
Sara, I’m glad they worked out for you!
I made these mini cheesecakes for an Easter dinner that I am attending later this evening. The addition that I made to the recipe was mixing raspberry preserves with the white chocolate and dropping a teaspoonful onto the crust and a fresh raspberry in the center before I added the filling. It turned out great. The fresh raspberry added a hint of tartness.
Teri, that sounds delicious! I bet they were lovely to look at, too, with the raspberry layer between the crust and the cheesecake.
hi thanks for the recipe tips & confidence to have a go. i just bought the tin but was unsure about converting a recipe to smaller quantities. do u have anymore suggestions for this great cooking tin. also what do u think about freezing them for when doing larger quantities.
Sydney, you’re very welcome. I’m actually going to have another recipe that uses the pan in the next couple of days. I’ve also thought that little muffins or cakes would be great to make in these. Those straight sides would give them a little different look than a muffin tin. As far as freezing the cheesecakes, I read on a similar recipe that they could be frozen for up to a month.
Hi again jennifer, can u use instant whip puddings in cheesecakes for flavouring & if so what quantitys would i use. I look forward to seeing what ur up to next with the mini cheesecake pan
hi again jennifer, i have tackled the mini cheesecake pan today & found pushing the crumbs up the sides to be a real pain so after 3 batches decided to only put it on the bottom where i could squash it easily with a sml jar & was really quick to do, my crust was possibly a bit too thick because of that so shall use less next time, is there an easy & quick way to get it around the sides , & how hard should i compact it. when its cooked should the crust be a little crumbly or hard like a cookie? also a lot of my tops were cracked when they first came out of the oven but settled ok after cooling ( still very edible of course) does this mean i cooked them too long? & should the crust & cheese mix still look pale after 14 mins sorry about all the questions but i havent made cheesecakes before so have nothing to compare to & really want to master this mini tin. hope u can help
Sydney, I don’t know of a trick to getting the crust pressed onto the sides. It’s just a tedious process, especially with as many batches as you’re making. It just needs to be compacted enough to stick to the sides. The filling will then create enough pressure to hold it all together. The finished crust should be a bit crumbly. It’s just a simple graham cracker crust, and those don’t really have anything in them to make them hard.
As for the cracking, that is a common problem in cheesecakes. There are several theories on how to prevent that. The most common one is the water bath. That is done my placing the cheesecake pan in another pan filled about halfway up with water. I don’t usually go that route. I do recommend not opening your oven door while they’re baking. Also, you might try cutting your baking time down and then turning off the oven and leaving the cheesecakes in the oven for a bit before taking them out.
The crust isn’t going to brown much. As for the filling, there’s not much browning there either. Pale is fine. A good way to check if they’re done is to give the pan a little shake. If they still jiggle a good bit, then they’re not done. Ideally, you won’t have to open your oven, but when in doubt this may be your best test.
I don’t really know about using instant whip puddings in the cheesecakes. I’ve never tried that.
any guides for converting cook time from a regular cheesecake recipe to the mini pop-up ones?
Valerie, I don’t know if there is a standard conversion out there. These should take considerably less baking time to set. For your first batch, I would just estimate then watch them closely. Sorry I couldn’t be more help. If you find any kind of conversion, let me know. Good luck!
I tried these and they were great! I didn’t use an electric mixer though, and reccomend it. If you don’t use it, it will be lumpy and i added a teaspoon of water and that made it smooth!
It may be great, thanks
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Thanks for the recipes. I am buying myself six cavity cheese cake bake pan as I already have a 12 mini cup cakes bake pan. Can I bake with both pans at the same time at the same temperature and time? What is cream de cacao. I love this site.
Yes, both pans should be fine as long as they don’t crowd your oven sauce. Cream de cacao is a chocolate liqueur.