Did you know you can bake cheesecake in a muffin pan? This recipe for creamy mini cheesecakes is so simple and perfect for a small crowd. Make sure you use a standard 12-count muffin pan. For extra mini cheesecakes baked in a mini muffin pan, see recipe Notes.
Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts and I have two recipes that steal my heart each time: classic cheesecake and no-bake cheesecake. Both recipes serve A LOT of people. If you love cheesecake, but don’t need an entire cheesecake in the house, try mini cheesecakes instead.
I have a few mini cheesecake recipes:
- Mini Margarita Cheesecakes
- Pumpkin Cheesecakes
- Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes
- Sprinkle Cheesecake Cookie Cups
These recipes yield anywhere from 16–24 muffin-sized cheesecakes. They’re all fun and flavorful, but maybe 16–24 mini cheesecakes is still too many. I felt inspired to reduce down even further and leave out all the extra goodies. Today’s recipe yields 9–10 mini cheesecakes. They’re simple, straightforward, and at only a few bites each, they’re awesome for portion control.
Video Tutorial
How to Make Cheesecake in a Muffin Pan
All we’re doing here is scaling down both the graham cracker crust and cheesecake batter from my classic cheesecake. Use a little more than 1 Tablespoon of both the crust and batter in each mini cheesecake. Like the big version, pre-bake the crust and make sure your cheesecake batter ingredients are at room temperature.
Bake the cheesecakes in a standard 12-count muffin pan. There’s no need for a springform pan and no need to mess with a water bath. Mini cheesecakes are not only easier than a full cheesecake, they take half the time to prepare! And if you’re looking for a version that sets in the refrigerator instead of the oven, you’ll appreciate these mini no-bake cheesecakes instead.
Want to add some flavor? Use my white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars recipe and see those recipe notes for how to turn them into mini cheesecakes. Love those.
Get creative with the toppings. The baked and cooled cheesecakes will slightly sink down in the centers, but all is not lost. The way I see it, the dip gives you more room for toppings!
Cheesecake Toppings:
- Strawberry Sauce
- Lemon Curd
- Homemade Whipped Cream
- Red Wine Chocolate Ganache
- Homemade Salted Caramel
- Chocolate Ganache
Mini Cheesecakes
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes
- Yield: 9-10
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Bake deliciously creamy mini cheesecakes in a muffin pan! This easy recipe yields 9 individual cheesecakes that are perfect for portion control. Use a standard 12-count muffin pan. For extra mini cheesecakes baked in a mini muffin pan, see recipe note.
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 2/3 cup (80g) graham cracker crumbs (about 5 1/2 full sheet graham crackers)
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 Tablespoon (12g) granulated sugar
Cheesecake
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (60g) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (optional, but recommended)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a standard 12-count muffin pan with 9–10 liners. (For a mini muffin pan, see recipe note.) This recipe yields only 9–10 mini cheesecakes, so there will be 2–3 empty. You could skip the liners and spray the pan with non-stick spray or grease with butter, but the mini cheesecakes are pretty stubborn to release from the pan. I recommend using liners to make things easier.
- Make the crust: Combine all of the crust ingredients in a medium bowl. Mixture will be sandy. Firmly press a heaping Tablespoon of crust mixture into each liner. (I use closer to 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons of crust per mini cheesecake.) Pre-bake for 5 minutes.
- Make the filling: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed in a large bowl until the mixture is smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sour cream, vanilla extract, and lemon juice then beat until fully combined. On medium speed, add the egg and beat just until combined. Batter will be thick. Divide the batter between all the liners. It’s about 1 Tablespoon per cheesecake.
- Bake until the edges are set and the centers only slightly jiggle, about 18–20 minutes.
- Set the pan on a wire rack and allow cheesecakes to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. If chilling for longer than 2 hours, loosely cover the cheesecakes. The cheesecakes will slightly sink in the middle as they chill. It gives you room for toppings!
- Once chilled, add any desired toppings (see Note below) and serve. Cover and store leftover cheesecakes in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare the cheesecakes through Step 3 up to 2–3 days in advance. Cover unbaked cheesecakes and store in the refrigerator until ready to bake. Continue with Step 4. Freeze individual baked cheesecakes for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12- count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Food Processor | Glass Mixing Bowls | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack
- Topping Suggestions: Salted caramel, lemon curd, strawberry topping, chocolate ganache, red wine chocolate ganache, fresh fruit or maraschino cherries, and homemade whipped cream.
- More Than 9 Mini Cheesecakes: This recipe is fantastic for doubling, tripling, or quadrupling. Simply double, triple, or quadruple each ingredient, including in the crust.
- Super Mini Cheesecakes: Line a 24-count mini muffin pan with mini muffin liners or grease with nonstick spray or butter. For easy and seamless removal from the pan, using liners is preferable. Make the crust and cheesecake batter as directed. Press 2 teaspoons of crust into each mini muffin liner. Pre-bake at 350°F (177°C) for 4 minutes. Remove from the oven and fill each with cheesecake batter. Bake for 10–11 minutes or until the cheesecakes appear set on top. Continue with Step 6 in this recipe. Yields approximately 30 super mini cheesecakes.
- Non-US Readers: Don’t have graham crackers where you live? Use these measurements for a biscuit crumb crust for these mini cheesecakes: 1 cup (105g) digestive biscuit crumbs (7 biscuits) + 30g butter, melted + 2 Tablespoons (25g) sugar. Grind the biscuits into crumbs, combine with sugar, then stir in the melted butter. Press into liners and pre-bake as directed in Step 2. And from what I understand, spreadable cream cheese sold in a tub in countries outside of the US is a little different from the spreadable cream cheese in the US. It’s thicker, sturdier, and more solid and should be OK to make cheesecake. I have no experience with it, but this is what I’ve heard from other non-US readers.
Keywords: mini cheesecakes
These were so awesome and easy to make. Yum yum
Hi Sally!
My cheesecakes cracked any tips on how to to prevent this going forward?
Still really yummy though !
Hi Nabeelah, Over-baking is the most common culprit of cracking. Bake until the edges are set and the centers only slightly jiggle. Also avoid opening the oven door while the cheesecakes are baking inside. Cracks are often caused by drafts and temperature changes.
Hi, i would like to replace the lemon juice for key lime juice… is 1 tsp enough to get good flavour ? thanks.. love your recipes
Hi Jane, I’m glad to help. You can try my mini key lime pies or you can use this recipe. If using this recipe, swap the 1 teaspoon of lemon juice for lime juice. Then add more lime juice (about 2 Tablespoons) and reduce the sour cream by 2 Tablespoons. Let me know how they turn out!
These are so good! Creamy, with just the right amount of tang to them.
★★★★★
Yum, yum,yum! Made these yesterday, super easy to make and tasted absolutely heavenly! I didn’t have graham crackers, so made the base from plain digestive biscuits and added blueberries & strawberries as add-ons .
Thanks Sally for yet another hit recipe!
★★★★★
These turned out perfect!!! SO happy with them! I was nervous because I know cheesecake can be finicky but these were excellent. I did add an additional tablespoon of butter to my crust to make it stick just a little more. Other then that, I followed recipe exactly and they were a huge hit. Thanks, Sally!!
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
Thanks for these options for a special weekend ahead. On that note, have a Happy Mother’s day.
Is it possible to substitute yogurt for sour cream for the cheese cake recipe/s?
It has been out of stock at the stores during this pandemic.
Best!
★★★★★
Hi Gabrielle! Yes, you can substitute yogurt for the sour cream in this recipe.
I made these for dessert for 6 of us. They were really good, especially with a little of the leftover butterscotch topping from Sally’s Butterscotch cupcakes (really delicious cupcakes) drizzled over the whipped cream. The recipe made 9 muffin size cheesecakes and of course there was an argument over who should have the remaining 3. These cheesecakes are not very sweet so I recommend some kind of topping.
★★★★★
SO DELICIOUS! I made these for a friend’s birthday and they were perfect. Easy to make, and they came out super cute and tasty. Also, the perfect size for portion control. I topped mine with a tangy raspberry jam, which offered a great flavor contrast. Would recommend!
★★★★★
Sally,
I just baked these mini cheesecakes (first cheesecake recipe ever) and they were absolutely perfect! I’ll never need to buy cheesecake again.
★★★★★
I’ve made this twice and it’s a keeper 🙂
Can’t wait to make your peanut butter cupcakes this week end!!!!
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
Can I add Bailey’s Irish Cream to this recipe? Do I need to adjust the other ingredients to do so?
Thank you!
Hi Nicole! I haven’t tested the recipe with the addition of Baileys, but you could try reducing the sour cream (and leaving out the lemon juice) and adding some Baileys. Let me know what you try!
Hi Sally. Thanks for the tip!! I used 2 tablespoons of Bailey’s, reduced the sour cream by 2 tablespoons and removed the lemon juice. I also used your oreo crust from the raspberry white chocolate cheesecake bars instead of graham crackers. They were delicious!
5 stars!! Absolutely delicious. Gave us the cheesecake fix we needed without having to make or buy a whole cake and was better then any one I could’ve bought. Love all her recipes. I highly recommend anything she does
★★★★★
Yessssssssss thank you for this recipe, I did everything exact but made them super mini size and they are SO DELICIOUS, my mom and boyfriend devoured these in two days during quarantine lmao
★★★★★
Hi Sally, if I wanted to add lime juice, how much would you suggest?
Hi Samantha! I’m happy to help. Swap the 1 teaspoon of lemon juice for lime juice. Then add more lime juice (about 2 Tablespoons) and reduce the sour cream by 2 Tablespoons. Let me know how they turn out!
Lovely recipe; works exactly as it should! 🙂
I took note of the comments that said the biscuit base was a little sandy and dry, so I processed 400 grams of digestive biscuits with 200 grams melted salted butter. The entire biscuit mixture made 36 bases, at 1 tablespoon of mixture per base. If you eat the cheesecakes the same day, the base is quite sandy, but after chilling overnight they really firm up as they should.
I quadrupled the filling, and scaled the cream cheese, greek yoghurt and white sugar up by a tenth, because I had 1 kilo of cream cheese, so the greek yoghurt went up to 265 grams, and the white sugar went up to 220 grams, which was perfect, as it happens. The other ingredients stayed as they were, because the scale-up changed their weights by like a gram or two 😛
I wanted a good tall cheesecake layer, so I dolloped 3 tablespoons of filling into each cupcake case, and this quadruple batch made exactly 24 little cheesecakes (I had 16 bases left over, so I made custard tarts), and baked them at 180C on the third shelf down in my oven for exactly 22 minutes, and they came as they should, with edges set and the centre just a little wiggly. It should be noted that the cheesecakes before baking fill the cupcakes nearly to the top, but after baking and cooling, they do shrink down quite a bit, which is ideal for toppings.
They cooled in their tins for 30 minutes, and then for 2 hours in the fridge; at that point I transferred them over into cupcake carriers, so they were covered in the fridge.
After they chilled overnight I melted 375 grams of milk cooking chocolate and 375 mls thickened cream into a pourable ganache, let it cool while stirring occasionally for 20 minutes, and then poured 1 tablespoon of ganache over each cheesecake, which used up most of the ganache.
★★★★★
I made the original “muffin” size cheesecake recipe this morning. I didn’t have a lemon or lemon juice but I did have some lemonade I made yesterday. I used that in place of fresh squeezed lemon ( stay at home: coronavirus rules: couldn’t see risking store for a lemon). The lemonade worked beautifully. The crust did not stay together as well as I would have liked. There was a lot of that “sand” like texture left in the muffin tin. I think next time I will use another T of butter. Oh.. and I WILL be making again, soon. As soon as I eat these. Absolutely Delicious! Thank you!
I made 24 super-minis and the recipe was easy and delicious. After I baked the minis, when they came out of the over and I transferred them to the wire rack to cool, I put three chocolate chips on some and then 3 caramel chips on a few more. Gave them a few minutes, then gently spread the chips over the top of the mini cheese cake, transferred to fridge to finish the cool. Topped the remainder with fresh blackberries and strawberry slices for variety. Yummy little treat to go with dinner!
★★★★★
Do you have to chill them for the full three hours or can I just let them cool for 20 min or so?
Hi Alex! Happy to help. If you enjoy warm cheesecake or cheesecake at room temperature, you can skip the chilling. The filling may stick to the cupcake wrappers.
They are amazing! My daughter and I substituted biscoff cookies for the Graham crackers and it turned out scrumptious!
★★★★★
I think it needs more sugar..
★★★★
This recipe is so good that I’ve made it three times in the past month! Amazing recipe!
★★★★★
With all the crazy stuff going on, I couldn’t get Graham crackers, but I had Praeventia chocolate cookies that my girls broke down to powder! Awesome recipe, thank you!!
★★★★★
Lovely to serve for bridge or afternoon tea.I use tart cherry pie filling as the topping
I trialled these mini cheesecake as I needed to provide 100 “fingerfood” size items for a ladies luncheon. I really appreciate you giving the weights in grams, not just spoons and cups as these can vary from country to country. However I want more of a lemon flavour. Do you think I could double the amount of lemon juice and also add lemon zest to increase the lemon flavour? I found them a little too sweet for my taste but it may be partly due to the biscuit base, as here in Australia we cannot get Graham biscuits so I used Granita. I may reduce the sugar in the biscuit base. I’m also considering using the blueberry sauce from your Blueberry Swirl cheesecake recipe to swirl through 50 and to top the other 50 with lemon curd. I followed your recipe exactly for my trial batch with a great result. I’m now doing the freezer test. Thank you for your detailed information in the recipe and also about making ahead. So helpful.
★★★★★
Hi Heather! So glad you enjoyed these and adding more lemon flavor would be just fine. Add lemon zest to your liking and if adding more lemon juice, I would reduce the sour cream. So if adding 2 extra Tbsp of lemon juice, reduce sour cream by 2 Tbsp. Let me know how they turn out!
Hi Sally! I always love your recipes, they are spot on. I made this mini cheesecakes for Super Bowl Sunday and topped them with strawberry glaze, they were a hit! It is my husbands birthday this weekend and he requested these. I am going to make a double batch and wanted to make one batch key lime flavor. Any recommendations as to how much lime juice and lime zest to add to 1 batch?
Hi Kim! You can skip the lemon juice and reduce the sour cream down to 2 Tablespoons. Add 2 Tablespoons of key lime juice. I also have these mini key lime pies, too!
I made the super mini cheesecakes (thank you for including that adaptation complete with baking times) for an Oscar Party I hosted and put out a selection of toppings for people to choose from including the salted caramel suggested in this recipe. Both were easy to make and so delicious. Everything turned out perfectly. Sally’s Baking Addiction recipes NEVER let me down. This is my go to website for everything baking.
★★★★★
I’ve tried these cheesecakes before, they are great!! I don’t know what recipe was used, but instead of graham cracker crust the put and Oreo cookie or a vanilla wafer? Will that turn out ok with your recipe?
Yes, you can either place a whole Oreo on the bottom or you can make an Oreo crust like I did in this recipe for Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes.
When do you remove them from the tins?
Best to remove them after completely cooling inside the pan.
I have this cooking up in the oven right now … but I’m scared – I didn’t realize it was ‘mix until JUST combined’ … and when I realized hmmm this is too runny, it was too late as I was on the last muffin cup. Oh well, let’s see what happens. Now I have an excuse to just make another batch tomorrow morning – lol 🙂 Your recipes are all awesome so I know they will turn out great!
★★★★★