Easy Mini Cheesecakes Recipe

Hey, I'm John Kanell, and today on Preppy Kitchen, we're making some creamy, delicious mini cheesecakes. So let's get started. First off, preheat your oven to 350 so it's nice and hot. And now, in your food processor, or you can do this by hand too, we're gonna add a quarter cup of toasted pecans. That's 30 grams. Toasting your pecans really brings out the flavor and the crunchiness. Pop your pecans onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 350 for about eight minutes, stirring halfway through. For this recipe, you'll want eight gram crackers, full sheets. That's 135 grams. Pop the top on, and we're gonna pulse this until they're broken into small pieces. Nice. Now, it's time for three tablespoons of granulated sugar. One, two, and three. By the way, if you like my recipes, hit that subscribe button. There's two new videos every single week. We're also adding in half a teaspoon of cinnamon. The pecans add so much to the crust. I love the taste and crunch. Pulse this one more time. I'm gonna add in about four and a half tablespoons of butter. I think that's just about what I need. So drizzle that in. By the way, if you wanted to make this with no nuts, you totally could. Just whip up my graham cracker crust recipe or my Oreo cookie crust recipe. Both will work really well with this cheesecake. Time to give it a pulse until everything's nicely distributed. Carefully pull out the blade. Chances are there's some pooled up butter down there, so grab a small spatula and just mix it up. Nice and evenly distributed butter. Little handful. Give it a squeeze, and it holds together fairly well. This will just be at the bottom of our cupcake papers. It does no structural work, so it doesn't have to hold together completely. Just be like a nice, wet, sandy mixture. If you don't have a food processor, you could definitely make this by hand. You would finely chop the pecans and then crush your graham crackers in a plastic bag. Combine that in a big bowl. Whisk up all the dry ingredients. Mix in the butter and just have it nice and combined. The main thing is those nuts need to be really finely chopped. This recipe makes 12 delicious mini cheesecakes, a nice crunchy bottom, a creamy top, and any toppings you'd like for a final touch. I'll show you a few of my favorites at the end of this video. The nice thing about mini cheesecakes is they bake so quickly, really foolproof, and you can whip these up just like that. Into our cupcake papers, we're adding two tablespoons of our graham cracker mixture. If there's any extra, you can distribute that at the end as needed. I wish you could experience the smell right now. It is so intoxicating. The melted butter, a little bit of sugar, but mostly those toasted pecans. Highly recommend. Right now, we have a loose, crumbly mess. You'll wanna find either a shot glass or some circular, flat-bottomed object that can press down really nicely. We really just want a base for our cheesecake, so it doesn't have to go all the way up to the side or anything like that. If the crust is sticking to the bottom of your glass, just give it a spin. That should dislodge it and let things release nicely. Tamp, tamp, tamp. Spinna, spinna, spinna. These have all gotten compressed really nicely, and they're ready to go into the oven for eight to 10 minutes or until they're fragrant and have taken on just a little bit of color. In you go. This filling comes together so quickly, so in the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl, if you're using a hand mixer, we're gonna add two eight-ounce packages of room-temperature cream cheese. That's 452 grams in total. Very important for your cream cheese to be room temperature, so it should be nice and soft. We don't want lumps. A nice, smooth batter is where it's at. Pop that whisk attachment on, and we're gonna whisk this at medium speed for about two to three minutes or until it's nice and smooth. Give that bowl a scrape halfway through. It's looking really nice and creamy already. Once your cream cheese is nice and creamy, gather half a cup or 100 grams of granulated sugar. Add that in, as well as a quarter teaspoon of salt for a little contrast. Let's scrape this down one more time. I want everything to be nice and smooth, not just the center. Now we're gonna mix this for an additional minute at medium speed until it's nice and smooth. This looks great, so now it's time for one of my favorite cheesecake ingredients, which is sour cream. A quarter cup or 60 grams will give you a nice bit of lightness and a little bit of tang so that your cheesecake has a lovely depth of flavor, not just a singular note. One quarter cup, 60 grams. I'm also adding in 1 1⁄2 teaspoons of a nice vanilla. Mix well on medium to medium-low for two minutes. I probably have to adjust my mixer head. There's a flat screw right in there that lets you adjust up or down slightly. So in the meantime, I'm gonna do more scraping down just to make sure it's all nicely mixed. Once your sour cream is nicely combined, we're gonna add two room-temperature large eggs one at a time. One and two. If desired, you can add up to a teaspoon of lemon juice right now for a little bit of brightness and tang. This is optional, and I ran out of lemons, so I'm not gonna do that today. Once your batter is nicely mixed with no lumps, it's ready to transfer into our slightly cooled crusts. Our mixer's done, so we're gonna set this aside. Really beautiful consistency. It's nice and silky with no lumps. Into each well goes one quarter cup or just a little bit under of our amazing batter. If you have a quarter cup trigger scoop, you could definitely use that. Transfer that scant quarter cup into your cupcake paper and repeat until they're all filled up. This recipe, by the way, is a great make-ahead dessert. You can freeze these for up to three months, just let them thaw for 12 hours in the fridge, or you can refrigerate for up to three days and they are delicious. Whenever my mom makes a cheesecake recipe, she always doubles it and has one to enjoy for whatever she's making it for and one for the freezer. She's had whole dinner parties just out of her freezer, I swear. Something I aspire to. I normally use a triggered ice cream scoop to transfer batter, but I have to say, this is so much more neat. It's a little bit more finicky or it takes a bit longer, but it's all going where it needs to, it's really nice. Honestly, these cheesecakes are indulgent and delicious just as they are, but you can personalize them in so many ways. One, through the toppings, you could add caramel, ganache, whipped cream, fruit, any combination of those, or so many other things. But you could also flavor the batter, too. I could have added in a quarter cup of melted chocolate, a drizzle of caramel, or even some blueberries. However, all these add-ins mean you're gonna increase the volume, so you'll be making more of these mini cheesecakes. My mini cheesecakes are ready to go into the oven, 350 Fahrenheit for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they're puffed and the centers jiggle slightly. As soon as they're out, I'm gonna show you how to top them. Once out of the oven, allow your beautiful mini cheesecakes to cool completely. You can enjoy them at room temperature, or you could chill them, and they'll be a bit more set up and firm. These cheesecakes are delicious plain, but they're also a blank canvas for all sorts of delicious toppings. Lemon curd, cherry topping, apple pie filling, caramel, chocolate ganache, whipped cream and berries. The list goes on. Crumbled up Oreos. Literally everything is delicious on these, so make your favorites, and just like that, they're ready to enjoy. That is a creamy cloud of cheesecake topped with a crunchy, crisp graham cracker pecan base. They are so good. You could eat many more than one of these. These are not single serve. My favorite way to enjoy them is either plain or with a big dollop of whipped cream and lots of fresh berries. I hope you get a chance to make this delicious, creamy, crunchy, easy recipe, and if you like my videos, hit that subscribe button and check out my cheesecake playlist.