These easy mini cheesecake bites are going to be your new best friend once you give them a try. Good old fashioned cheesecake (made with Philadelphia cream cheese and graham cracker crust) doesn't get the credit it deserves. I'm here to change that with these mini cheesecakes!
Now I am not sure why so many bakers have gotten away from this classic cheesecake recipe and moved on to fancier versions but this is the one and only for me.
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. That is where my love for these cheesecake bites comes in.
Mini bites of crunchy graham cracker crust and a light cream cheese filling is the perfectly balanced dessert. It really is a much better experience and so much more manageable than a traditional large slice of cheesecake.
An added bonus is you do not need any plates or utensils for this one. It is 100 percent a finger food kind of dessert.
For making these mini cheesecakes, the steps are really easy too! As you are baking the crust, you can be assembling the cheesecake batter. If you are not good at multi tasking, no worries! It still is quick and easy.
Steps to make these cheesecake bites:
- Make the graham cracker crust
- Place graham cracker mixture into muffin tins and bake
- Make the cheesecake filling
- Add cheesecake filling to the baked graham cracker crust in the muffin tin
- Bake
- Refrigerate for 4 hours
- Make the berry sauce (optional)
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 if you want to make berry cheesecake bites. You could also just use strawberries for the topping for strawberry cheesecake bites.
There are so many delicious toppings you can choose. I highly recommend making a double batch of these because they will be eaten up in no time.
The ingredients to make these easy 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.
Common questions about making these Cheesecake bites:
Can you make these cheesecake bites ahead of time?
Yes, these cheesecake bites are meant to be made ahead of time so they have time to cool in the fridge. They can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and still retain that great crunch in the crust.
Do I need to cook these in a water bath like other cheesecake recipes?
No. That is the simplicity and greatness of this recipe is that you are only adding these into a mini muffin tin and no other special baking techniques are needed.
Should I store the cheesecakes with the berries on top or plain?
Ideally, you should only top the cheesecakes with the berries when you know you will eat them soon. Will it ruin the cheesecakes if it sits in the fridge for a few days, no. If you do decide to add a berry sauce to the cheesecakes ahead of time, you may get a little juice that runs into the cupcake liner.
Do you serve these mini cheesecake bites with or without the muffin liner?
This is totally up to you! If you do decide to take off the liners then make sure you do it slowly so you do not accidentally pull some of that delicious graham cracker crust with it.
Should these be served cold or at room temperature?
Cheesecake should always be kept chilled until ready to eat. When I entertain with these (these mini cheesecakes are great for a crowd), I will plate them up just after dinner and they sit out for no more than 30 minutes because honestly, that is how long they last ๐
Can you freeze these?
Absolutely. To freeze them just chill them fully in the fridge first then transfer to a freezer safe container making sure they are not stacked up but sitting next to each other in the container. To thaw, just place the freezer container with the mini cheesecakes into the fridge overnight.
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 berry cheesecake bites! This cheesecake recipe is perfect for a party of one or 10 and I promise you will be addicted once you give them a try.
For more Easy Dessert recipes:
Mini Cheesecake Bites
Equipment
- mini muffin tin
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- ⅔ 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 ½ tbsp granulated white sugar If you like a more decadent dessert you can use brown sugar instead of regular granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp kosher salt or ⅛ tsp regular 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.
- ¼ 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
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ 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.
For flavored mini cheesecakes, you might like these recipes:
- Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes (from Live Well Bake Often)
- Mini Salted Caramel Cheesecakes (from Jo Cooks)
- Mini no bake Lime Cheesecake (from Sugar Salt Magic)
These were very good and easy to make. However, next time I will cut in half the amount of salt added to the graham cracker crust.
Glad you enjoyed them!
These were really easy to make and everyone loved them!
So glad to hear that Sarah!
These were great. Using the brown sugar variation was definitely the way to go!
Wonderful cheese cupcakes but I like cream cheese from a bag at a cheese/deli store, not the philly brick. It is a bit wetter but much tastier. I put cinnamon in the crust too ๐
Hi Sara,
I am so glad you liked them! That cream cheese sounds heavenly ๐ I will be on the lookout for this next time I am at the deli.