Mini New York Cheesecakes
Mini New York Cheesecakes are a classic New York Style Cheesecake on a graham cracker crust in a bite sized dessert. Top with strawberry or cherry pie filling or whipped cream! Easily dressed up as a holiday cheesecake.
I’ve mentioned before that when I am looking for a fool-proof, guaranteed-to-succeed recipe, I always turn to this cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen. When browsing through the cheesecake section, I saw New York Style Cheesecake and wanted to turn it into mini cheesecakes. I did this with the Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes and had great success.
These cheesecakes are a blank canvas for flavor toppings and decor. I planned to top mine with cherry pie filling but all I had was some strawberry pie filling I bought for Bob’s requested Father’s Day Homemade Ben & Jerry’s Hot Fudge sundaes.
The red color of strawberry or cherry pie filling makes these mini cheesecakes perfect for the holidays or for Valentine’s Day. We enjoyed them in the summer, when the red can represent the American flag, like in this Strawberry Pretzel Jello Salad.
These can be decorated for any occasion, by topping with any flavor of pie filling or whipped cream and sprinkles/edible decorations. The cheesecake is creamy and delicious, and we were so happy with how these turned out!
Recipe Details
Making the Graham Cracker Crust
The crust is a simple graham cracker crust consisting of graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter.
The crust is divided among the wells of a mini cheesecake pan. You can use a mini muffin pan instead, but be sure to use cupcake liners! Otherwise, it will be difficult to get them out of the pan.
Use a small cup to press down the crumbs in each well.
Bake the crust and set aside to cool while you make the filling.
Making the Cheesecake Filling
For the filling, the cream cheese is beaten until smooth and the sugar is added step wise with the salt. Then the sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla are added, followed by the eggs, one at a time.
The batter is added to each well until 3/4 full. If you overfill, the cheesecakes will rise over the top and look like muffins instead of cheesecakes. You may have extra filling which you can bake in separate dish.
Some of the mini cheesecakes may have a flat top, but some will be sunken, which is ok because you’re going to top them!
Cheesecake Topping Ideas
To make holiday cheesecakes, top these with strawberry or cherry pie filling.
You could also top them with plain whipped cream and add some decorative sugar, sprinkles, or edible decor. Another option would be to add a ganache glaze like I did for the Bailey’s Irish Cream Mini Cheesecakes.
Gluten Free Mini New York Cheesecakes
Use gluten free graham crackers in place of traditional graham crackers for an entirely gluten free dessert!
Looking for More Mini Desserts?
Check out these other Mini Dessert Recipes:
Mini Mocha Cheesecakes
Mini Red Velvet Cheesecakes
Bailey’s Irish Cream Mini Cheesecakes
Mini Hot Chocolate Cheesecakes
Mini Pina Colada Cheesecakes
Black Bottom Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites
Pumpkin Spice Magic Bar Minis
Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes
LOOKING FOR MORE VALENTINE’S DAY DESSERT IDEAS?
Check out these great dessert ideas for Valentine’s Day:
Nut Free Linzer Cookies
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Strawberry Pretzel Jello Salad
Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream on Red Velvet Cupcakes
Red Velvet Brownies with Cheesecake Swirl
Roasted Cherry Brownie Sundaes with Cherry Port Sauce
Homemade Ben & Jerry’s Hot Fudge Sauce
Outrageous Brownies
Best Gooey French Brownies
Dark Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Red Velvet Cheesecake
Bread Pudding with Bourbon Caramel Sauce
Mini New York Cheesecakes
Equipment
- one 12-cup mini cheesecake pan
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 4 whole graham cracker sheets
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
For the Filling:
- 16 ounces cream cheese (2 packages)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- dash salt
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
Toppings (optional):
- Strawberry or cherry pie filling
- Whipped cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
Make the Crust:
- Process graham crackers to crumbs in a food processor.
- Sprinkle sugar and melted butter oven the crumbs and pulse to combine.
- Divide evenly among wells of a mini cheesecake pan or mini muffin pan and press down. You may have extra crumbs if using a mini cheesecake pan. You can bake these in a separate dish.
- Bake the crust for 8 to 10 minutes until fragrant.
Make the Filling:
- Beat cream cheese until smooth, add half of the sugar and beat until smooth, then add the rest of the sugar and salt. Beat for 1-3 minutes.
- Add the sour cream, lemon, and vanilla for 1-3 minutes. Beat the eggs one at a time for 1-3 minutes until filling mixture is super smooth.
Assemble and Bake:
- Divide batter evenly among the wells, filling to 3/4 full. If you have extra filling batter left, you may bake it in a separate dish.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until filling is set.
- Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Remove cheesecakes from pan and carefully pry off removable bottom from the bottom of each cheesecake. Refrigerate cheesecakes until ready to serve.
- Serve with strawberry or cherry pie filling or whipped cream, as desired.
Yum…Thank you for sharing!!
This was easy and they turned out perfect and delicious! Thank you.
Great to hear that! Thank you!