Cheesecake has been my very favorite food in the whole world, since I was a kid. Lobster comes second. I could eat cheesecake every single day, and never tire of it…if my weight could handle that much fattening goodness. But I have never been able to pull off a good cheesecake myself. Until now.
I discovered these decadent mini cupcake size New York style cheesecakes from Mini Baker on Pinterest. She raves about what a difference sweetened condensed milk makes, and their perfectly portioned nature made me eager to try these out for a couple of parties (if they didn’t turn out, I figured that I would make the sacrifice and eat them all). The cheesecakes turned out perfect! So so good! Very moist. I went with fresh strawberries for one party, fresh raspberries for another, and store-bought chocolate syrup, a perfect easy combination.
While Mini Baker uses full-size cupcake tins, I opted to use mini cupcake tins to stretch the dessert further (I knew there would be a bunch of desserts). The mini cupcake size makes the perfect bite-sized cheesecake serving, and cut down the Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value. I did have to watch the bake time more closely, since my cheesecakes were half the size baked in the original recipe. Just watch them until golden on top, and test with a toothpick.
If I were to make these for a smaller dinner party, I would probably try the original cupcake size. But, for a large gathering where people want to be able to sample a bit of everything, the mini portions are just perfect.
- ⅔ cup graham crackers, crushed
- 2 TBSP. butter, melted
- 2 pkgs. (8 oz. each) low-fat (my substitution) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Fresh berries of choice (my substitution over canned pie filling)
- Chocolate Syrup (optional, approximately 1 tsp. per serving)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin cups (or 24 mini muffin cups) with paper or foil liners.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the crushed graham crackers and melted butter.
- Pour a rounded TBSP. of the graham cracker crust into each liner. Press down the crust mixture so its compact. The bottom of a glass works great for this; use a shot glass for mini muffin tins.
- Bake the crusts for 5 minutes in the preheated oven.
- While that is baking, beat the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, eggs and vanilla extract together until its smooth. (Make sure the cream cheese is room temp or else you’ll get some ugly “cheese chunks”- gross!)
- Pour the filling into each muffin cup filling it ¾ full.
- Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Cheesecakes should be almost completely set, they will have a slight golden hue on the top. If using mini muffin cups, watch closely, the time varies a bit.
- Chill completely before removing the paper/foil liners and topping with berries and/or chocolate.
- Keep chilled until ready to serve. These will stay creamy and smooth for up to 5 days.
Note: These can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge.
