Easy Mini Cheesecake Bites

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.

When making this mini cheesecake recipe, 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)

This mini cheesecake recipe 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 🙂

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:

• Rustic Italian Apple Cake
• Nellie and Joe's Key Lime Tart
• Mixed Berry Crisp
• Easy Creamy Lemon Bars
• Apple Galette with Brown Butter Frosting
• Bittersweet Chocolate Cupcakes

For flavored mini cheesecakes, you might like these recipes:

1. Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes (from Live Well Bake Often)
2. Mini Salted Caramel Cheesecakes (from Jo Cooks)
3. Mini no bake Lime Cheesecake (from Sugar Salt Magic)