This month's What's Baking theme is "A Family Favorite." Besides pound cake, my family's favorite dessert is pumpkin cream pie. I've made it too many times to count and it's always requested at fall family gatherings. When my mom requested the pie for her birthday, I decided to come up with a new idea that takes the components of the pie instead. I came up with mini pumpkin cheesecakes. These little desserts were delicious and perfect for fall. The pumpkin and spices were perfect additions to the sweet cheesecake filling. They were delightful and made my mom's birthday a little sweeter.
Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes Source: Adapted from Sweetnicks
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 foil liners.
For Crust: 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs 3 tablespoons melted butter 1 tablespoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix all ingredients together and press mixture into the bottoms of 12 cupcake liners.
For Cheesecakes: 2 (8 oz.) packs cream cheese (room temperature) 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup pumpkin 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 eggs
Beat cream cheese for 1 minute on medium speed until fluffy. Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium speed until well blended. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake 15 - 20 minutes until set. (NOTE: The centers will be a little jiggly.) Cool and top with fresh whipped cream. Store in refrigerator.
I have never been a huge fan of cheesecake. I was asked to make mini cherry cheesecakes recently and I was going to use a recipe in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, but I read the recipe incorrectly and didn't have enough cream cheese. I searched the Internet and after reading a few recipes, I found one that didn't look too complicated. The only complaint with this recipe is that the centers sank after coming out of the oven. This wasn't a problem since I was filling them with cherry, so it worked out perfectly. I have to say these cuties were pretty addictive. The sour cherry pie filling was a great contrast to the sweet cheesecake and buttery crust. I enjoyed them so much that I'm already dreaming up variations.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 foil liners.
For Crust: 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs 3 tablespoons melted butter 1 tablespoon sugar
Mix all ingredients together and press mixture into the bottoms of 12 cupcake liners.
For Cheesecakes: 2 (8 oz.) packs cream cheese (room temperature) 3/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 eggs Cherry pie filling
Beat cream cheese for 1 minute on medium speed until fluffy. Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium speed until well blended. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake 15 - 20 minutes until set. (NOTE: The centers will be a little jiggly.) Cool and top with pie filling. Store in refrigerator.
For Cheesecakes:
