Mini Cheesecakes

These easy mini cheesecakes with a simple cookie bottom and a homemade 1-minute raspberry sauce are the perfect mini cheesecake recipe for special occasions and family meals. Get ready to impress and delight even the pickiest eater, I can’t get over how easy it is to make this personal dessert.

WHY MINI CHEESECAKE RECIPE

This mini cheesecake recipe is for every cheesecake lover who’s in search of cheesecake perfection.

It’s the simplest easiest quickest way to make this all-time favorite dessert! A foolproof recipe that takes intimidation away and allows you to indulge and enjoy mini cheesecakes perfection!

I confess I am a cheesecake lover and a cheesecake-obsessed baker! You might remember I confessed in an earlier post for mini chocolate pudding cakes that growing up I wasn’t so much a chocolate person.

Now that has changed, but it didn’t take away a tiny bit from my cheesecake love affair.

Luckily my sweet mom shares the same cheesecake affinity. I remember many nights we would chat, laugh, and share a vanilla cheesecake while my sister, dad, and brother (aka. the pure chocoholics) would roll their eyes and indulge in chocolate!

A while ago when we had just moved to Vienna, I made this recipe at a huge fancy VIP seated dinner we were hosting.

I was in charge of dessert and I was so nervous and excited. I found out everyone raved about dessert and some even asked for an extra serving. A very uncommon protocol at such events!

Later on while still in Vienna, I made this mini cheesecake recipe for so many other occasions. Guess what, I had to give away the recipe each time.

Other than how good these mini cheesecakes are, they’re very easy and un-intimidating to make.

HOW TO MAKE CHEESECAKE

Many cheesecake recipes are super complicated and feature a long water bath, covering or uncovering the cheesecake, high heat or low heat, crust baked first, or crust baked with the cheesecake. And the list goes on…

This raspberry mini cheesecake recipe is really shamefully easy.

I love my cheesecakes dense, smooth and rich tasting but not heavy—so I prefer low-fat cream cheese over full-fat here, but feel free to use full or fat-free.

Also, I prefer a cheesecake that’s not too sweet because I’ll always find a sweet topping for it. I like my cheesecakes well chilled and even a few days after they were baked.

A nice cookie crust at the bottom is key.  I don’t process the crust with melted butter and sugar—I keep it just a cookie! I use my cookie cutter to cut out exact sizes.

Then I place one cookie at the bottom of a muffin tin lined with paper cups (for easy release) and that’s the base for each mini raspberry cheesecake.

The cheesecake batter itself is simply cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and eggs. You throw it all except the egg in a mixing bowl or your stand mixer fitted with the paddle and beat it until it’s very smooth.

Then the egg is added and beaten just a bit. Don’t overbeat the egg.

You really don’t need to beat the eggs too much as you should stay away from incorporating too much air from the eggs. This helps the cheesecake NOT deflate after it’s baked.

So go in with the egg and vanilla and beat until just mixed up.

Poured over the ready cut cookies in muffin tins.

Another tip is to fill any empty muffin tin cavity with hot water. This also creates a creamier cheesecake! If the muffin pan is full, then don’t worry bout this step.

Now bake these mini cheesecakes bake for 15 minutes, cool down in the oven while it’s turned off before you remove from the oven and move them to the counter and finally the fridge.

Once cooled down completely, you can start carefully removing the baking paper form the mini cheesecakes.

Raspberry Sauce for Cheesecake

On a busy day, I will top my cheesecakes with this fabulous 1-minute raspberry sauce and its mini raspberry cheesecake indulgence and perfection!! If you wanted you could add a small dollop of homemade whipped cream.

Start off with a cup of good raspberry jam, and feel free to use seedless or not.

Microwave the jam for 30 seconds until it’s warm and add to it a tablespoon of hot water to thin it out.

Add in a huge lot of fresh raspberries!

And then mix that up until you have a luscious 1 minute tasty raspberry sauce for cheesecake! SO GOOD!

I love how these mini cheesecakes are in individual-size portions—not only does this help with baking, but it makes them look cuter and makes for more portion control.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

• These mini cheesecakes keep in your fridge for a week and will taste better the next day or two after baking, which makes them a great make-ahead dessert!
• For an extra smooth raspberry sauce, opt for seedless raspberry jam. I don’t mind a couple of seeds and used regular jam.
• I prefer my raspberry cheesecake with low-fat cream cheese, but full-fat or even no-fat will work.
• Chill for at least six hours or overnight for best results.
•  

MINI CHEESECAKE RECIPE VARIATIONS

If you aren’t a fan of raspberry you could add a sprinkling of chocolate chips while the cheesecake is fresh from the oven.

The cookie crust makes this recipe crazy easy, but if you have graham crackers and not cookies, you can definitely substitute a graham cracker crust.

In a pinch, pie filling works great as a topping.

Purchase any fruit syrup pre-made and add fresh fruit.

Use caramel sauce or chocolate sauce instead of fruit syrup.

OTHER GREAT MINI DESSERTS

Mini Cheesecake Bites with Pistachios and Cranberries

Mini Cherry Pie

Easy Mini Lemon Pudding Cake

Mini Red Velvet Cheesecakes With Sugar Raspberries

Ultimate Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes