Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Preheat oven to 350F and line a 12-muffin tin pan with cupcake liners.

To make the crusts, stir together in a small bowl:

1 cup of crumbs from crushed ginger snaps

4 teaspoons sugar

4 tablespoons melted butter

Once combined, put a heaping tablespoon of mixture into each muffin cup liner and press down to compress. (I use the blunt end of my French rolling pin.) Bake for 7 minutes until set, then set aside to cool. Lower oven to 275F.

In a mixing bowl, using a whisk attachment beat together until smooth:

one 8 oz. package of cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

Add one at a time, beating well after each addition:

2 large eggs

Scrape down the sides and add:

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Fill each cupcake liner as full as possible. If desired, sprinkle each top with glazed pecans. Bake for 20 minutes at 275F, or until the sides are set well, but the center is still a bit wobbly. Leave the cheesecakes in the pan to cool on a rack until room temperature. Then chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight. Leave in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Note: My chilled cheesecakes wanted to “stick” to my muffin tin, so you may want to remove them from the muffin pan before chilling.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Mini Cheesecakes

The flavor of fall’s fav drink, in a mini cheesecake! Use the above recipe, but stir in 1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder to the batter (or more to taste). I sprinkled some crushed gingersnaps on top before baking. To serve, top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of pumpkin spice.

If you’re like me and you’d like some of both recipes but only want to make 12 cheesecakes, fill up 6 of the cupcake liners with the first Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe. Then add the instant espresso powder (I did 2 teaspoons) to the remaining batter and fill up the other 6.

Want more mini cheesecake ideas?? Follow this link!