Good old fashioned cheesecake doesn’t get the credit it deserves and I’m here to change that with these mini cheesecake bites! Normally baking a full cheesecake can be a bit challenging or a bit too heavy for a dessert. It also in my opinion is too much cheesecake and not enough crust. These mini cheesecake bites fixes all of that and you really get a great balance of the amazing homemade graham cracker crust and the cheesecake filling.
These little bites will not fill you up too much and can be eaten as is like the picture above or topped with your favorite toppings like a simple berry sauce. I highly recommend making a double batch of these because they will be eaten up in no time.
The ingredients in these mini cheesecakes are extremely simple:
- cream cheese
- graham crackers
- butter
- sugar
- vanilla
- egg
One of the things I love about these is that they can sit in your refrigerator during the week and you can grab one when you want a quick sweet treat. If you decide to make a double batch of these, you can freeze one of the batches and when you have gone through the first batch, just place the frozen batch in the fridge overnight to thaw and you are all set to enjoy more of them.
They are extremely tempting and a little bit of guilty treat but to me, I feel a lot less guilty eating these instead of an entire slice of cheesecake. I also think they make a great dessert to serve to guests because you can make it all ahead of time and when you place these out on a platter with coffee or tea, guests can grab what they need and there is no extra fussing with slicing up a cake. If you have read some of my other recipes, you know I am always looking for easy ways to entertain so I can spend more time with my guests.
You really don’t need a party or an excuse to make these! They are perfect for a party of one or 10 and I promise you will be addicted once you give them a try.
Mini Cheesecake Bites
Equipment
- mini muffin tin
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs You can pulse full size graham crackers in a food processor or smash them up well in a ziploc bag
- 2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tbsp granulated white sugar If you like a more decadent dessert you can use brown sugar instead of regular granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
Cheesecake Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature This is one full block of cream cheese. You should take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator about 1 hour before you are ready to use it.
- 1/4 cup sour cream or mascarpone cheese full fat works best. If you decide to use Italian Mascarpone then make sure it is at room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees
Making the graham cracker crust
- In a large bowl, add your ground graham crackers, melted butter and sugar and mix well
- Line your mini muffin tin with mini muffin liners. If you do not have liners then grease the well of the muffin tray.
- Now scoop one good tablespoon of your crust into each of the wells
- Do this until all of the crust is used up
- With the end of a wooden spoon or something similar in shape, press the crust into the wells of the tin well until it looks pressed and firm and the crust comes up of the sides a little bit
- Place the crust in the pre-heated oven for 4-5 minutes. then remove and let cool.
Cheesecake Filling
- In a medium bowl, add your room temperature cream cheese, egg, sour cream, vanilla and sugar and mix really well until it becomes silky smooth (about 2 minutes with a mixer or about 4 minutes with a whisk)
- Take a heaping tablespoon of your cheesecake filling and place on top of the graham cracker crust. Keep doing this until all of the filling is used up. If there is any left over then evenly distribute it to all of the wells.
Baking
- Bake for 18 minutes or until you cannot see the center jiggle when you give the pan a light shake.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely. (The cheesecake will not be ready to eat until it has chilled so if you grab a test one to try just remember that the consistency will change and firm up once it is cold)
- Once the cheesecake has come to room temperature, place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight to completely chill and set up.
- Once it is fully chilled you can enjoy it as is or add your favorite topping.
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