October is here which means it is officially time to crank out the pumpkin recipes! Excited? I am! Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner and I made chili and cornbread. For dessert I had prepared these tasty little cheesecake bites. This was my first attempt at baking in my mini cheesecake pan and I had no idea what I was doing. Since I made my own recipe I was unsure of the baking/cooling time…. yeah, I winged it. Turns out that my guesses were pretty spot-on because these came out moist and oh so delicious! Happy October and let the pumpkin madness begin!
Baking Tools & Ingredients You Will Need For This Recipe:
Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes with Gingersnap Crusts Recipe
These mini pumpkin cheesecakes with gingersnap crusts are a fall favorite! Spiced to perfection and topped with a vanilla bean whipped cream, you just can't go wrong with these little bites!
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Servings: 12 mini cheesecakes
Calories: 219kcal
Ingredients
- 1 (8) oz package Original Philadelphia Cream Cheese - room temperature
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice - (or allspice)
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
crust
- 8 gingersnap cookies
- 1 graham cracker
- 1 1/2 Tbsp butter - melted
- 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/4 cup pecans
- pinch of salt
vanilla bean whipped cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- seeds from ¼ of a vanilla bean - (or ¼ tsp vanilla bean paste)
- pumpkin pie spice for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a mini cheesecake pan with baking spray. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a food processor, grind all ingredients for crust, except for the melted butter. The mixture should resemble slightly coarse crumbs. Remove mixture and pour melted butter over. Mix until crumbs are wet. Press into the bottom of each hole. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- While crust is baking prepare filling beating together cream cheese, sugar and pumpkin puree until smooth. Add spices, vanilla, heavy cream and egg. Mix until just combined.
- Pour filling over each crust, dividing evenly. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 20 minutes before removing cheesecakes (yes your cheesecakes will sink a little, this is normal).
- Remove cheesecakes from pan using the bottom of a wooden spoon. Using a butter knife, remove metal bottoms and place cheesecakes in an airtight container. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.
- While cheesecakes are cooling, prepare vanilla bean whipped cream by fitting a chilled mixing bowl into your stand mixer. Add heavy cream, sugar and scraped vanilla bean seeds. Using the whisk attachment beat on high for 2-3 minutes until stiff peaks begin to form. Return to refrigerator until cheesecakes are ready to be served.
- To assemble, using a mesh sieve, lightly dust cheesecakes with pumpkin pie spice before or after topping with a swirl of whipped cream. Enjoy!
NOTES
-I used the Chicago Metallic Mini Cheesecake Pan, but you can double the recipe and use a standard size muffin tin lined with paper liners.
Nutrition
Calories: 219kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 67mg | Sodium: 118mg | Potassium: 96mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 2211IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 1mg
Recipe source: Life Made Simple
I can’t tell you how happy I am you shared this recipe! I’ve been through culinary school so I’m always looking for the best recipes, and yours is perfect! I made a quadruple quantity to get 48 of them for a teacher appreciation “Friendsgiving” I’m hosting for them tomorrow. It’s all fall appetizers and desserts so these are perfect on the dessert buffet, and will be the highlight of the table! I ordered 2 Nordic-Ware mini cheesecake pans and they worked beautifully! Love the crust on this too! Also one tip I’ll share is that using a wooden muddler (like you’d use for cocktails) is the perfect tool to tamp down the crust uniformly and also the perfect diameter to push through the bottom to take the cheesecakes out. Thank you so much! Your picture and recipe are inspiring!! Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Paulette, thanks for your 5 star review and for sharing your tips!
Trying this now in a regular cupcake pan, recipe doubled. Does anyone know how long I need to bake them?
Found you on Pinterest! These were super easy and came out great. Doubling the recipe made 18 standard size cupcakes, perfect for my Thanksgiving get together. Thanks!