These mini cheesecakes are one of the desserts I make the most often! They’re incredibly simple and the recipe makes one dozen perfect mini cheesecakes. The tops naturally indent as they cool, making them perfect for topping with anything you can imagine- salted caramel, chocolate, lemon curd, whipped cream, etc. My Mom made these easy mini cheesecakes every single 4th of July for as long as I can remember and always topped them with cherry and blueberry canned pie filling. I love them with fresh red white and blue berries as well- the options are endless!
Ingredient Notes
- Nilla Wafers – These little cookies make the perfect crust when dropped in the bottom of a cupcake liner. Brand name or generic will be just fine. In the details below, you’ll find two different ways you can do the crust- one involves simply a single Nilla wafer cookie, and the other is a quick crust.
- Cupcake Liners – I find that foil cupcake liners work well. When you purchase foil liners, they come with paper dividers that can be discarded, or saved for a different use. These gold liners in my photos are from Walmart- they’re foil on the outside and paper on the inside and they worked great.
- Cream Cheese – You will need softened full fat or Neufchatel/low fat cream cheese. Avoid fat free. I do find using full-fat cream cheese produces a richer, creamier cheesecake.
- Toppings – The options are endless here! Pie filling makes a quick and easy topper. Ganache and a berry is always a good combo, as is caramel sauce or lemon curd. If you’re making these for the 4th of July, I recommend cherry and blueberry pie fillings or whipped cream with strawberries and blueberries.
How To Make Cheesecake Tarts
- Preheat your oven to 375. Fill a muffin pan with 12 foil cupcake liners. Place a single Nilla wafer at the bottom of each one, OR scroll down for another quick crust option.
- With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar. Add in flour and baking powder and beat to combine. Then add in eggs, one at a time, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat to combine.
- Divide batter between 12 muffin papers, they will be filled up close to the top, that’s okay! Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. They’ll puff way up during baking, but they’ll settle after being chilled.
- When you take them out of the oven, place them on a cooling rack and let them cool completely. While they cool, they will sink down in the center. Don’t worry- that’s normal! It makes the perfect little well to fill up with the fruit filling. Before you top them, chill in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours or preferably over night. Then top and serve. You can be creative and top with whatever you like!
Single Cookie Crust or Traditional Crust
I’ve always made these by placing a single Nilla wafer at the bottom of each cheesecake like my mom did. It’s incredibly quick and easy! The texture of the cookie after baking is a bit softer than a traditional cheesecake crust. If you’d like a more traditional crust, it’s super simple- I’ll include this option in the recipe card as well.
How to Top Mini Cheescakes
The options are endless. Aside from fresh or canned fruit filling, another favorite of ours is chocolate ganache and a raspberry, or jarred caramel with a sprinkle of flakey salt.
These are great because you really can just eat them with your hands in a few bites, kind of like a cupcake. Try canned pie filling for a no-fuss option, or a little whipped cream or cool whip with your favorite fresh fruit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make these ahead of time? Absolutely! Bake up your cheesecakes a day ahead of time and store, covered in cling wrap, in the refrigerator until ready to top and serve.
Related Recipes
Looking for other Independence Day recipes? Consider these other Our Best Bites Favorites:
Oatmeal M&M Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Patriotic Dipped Ice Cream Sandwiches
Layered Patriotic Punch
Layered Jell-O {4th of July Edition!}
White Texas Sheet Cake (Red, White, & Blue Edition)
Did You Make This?
I’d love to hear from you! Snap a picture and tag me on Instagram, then come back and give this recipe a rating!
Mini Cheesecake Tarts
Ingredients
- CHEESECAKE TARTS12 Nilla Wafer Cookies*
- 2 8- ounce packages cream cheese softened or at room temp
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- foil cupcake liners
- OPTIONAL TOPPINGScanned pie filling
- fresh berries
- whipped cream
- chocolate sauce
- caramel sauce
- lemon curd
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. Fill a muffin pan with 12 foil cupcake liners and place one Nilla Wafer at the bottom of each one. (*Or see below for simple traditional cheesecake crust recipe)
- With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and free of lumps. Add in flour and baking powder and beat to combine. Then add in eggs, one at a time, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat to combine.
- Divide batter between 12 muffin papers, they will be quite full and that's okay! Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. They'll puff way up during baking, but they'll settle after being chilled.
- When you take them out of the oven, place them on a cooling rack and let them cool completely. While they cool, they will sink down in the center. Don't worry- that's normal! It makes the perfect little well to fill up with the fruit filling. Before you top them, chill in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours or preferably over night. Then top and serve. You can be creative and top with whatever you like, like chocolate, caramel, lemon curd, whatever! Makes 12 cheesecakes.
- *Traditional Cheesecake Crust Option
- Place 24 Nilla Wafer cookies in a blender or food processor (or simply place in a zip top bag and smash until crumbs). Place crumbs in a small bowl and mix with 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted, and 3/4 teaspoon sugar. Divide mixture evenly between muffin liners (should be abt heaping tablespoon each) and gently press down.
Questions & Reviews
Just kidding, I read the other comments. I swear I’ve made these before in my mini muffin tin, but I don’t remember how I adjusted the cook time. Any suggestions?
Are you using a regular muffin tin or a mini muffin tin? I can’t tell from the pictures.
Can I use regular cupcake holders or does it have to be the foil ones?:)
You can use regular ones, but I find the cheesecake often sticks so that’s why I like the foil ones. They hold up a little better to the dense batter too.
I have used another recipe for mini cheesecakes for years and this one tops it! They are more like a real cheesecake and the lemon juice makes a nice flavor enhancer. Glad to have found it. They were a big hit.
Just made this last night. They are incredible. I did use a graham cracker crust because I may be freezing the leftovers (then this morning after having one for breakfast I realized there probably won’t be leftovers – Ha). Thanks for the easy and very yummy cheesecake recipe.
Thank you so much for the recipe! I just put these in the oven for my nephews 2nd birthday tomorrow. He loves cheesecake and what better way to serve them than as tarts for a two year old?! Thanks so much 🙂
These sound awesome. Can I freeze these? I am hosting an engagement party, I would love to make these at least 4 days prior.
I’ve never frozen these, so I honestly don’t know. That being said, most cheesecakes freeze really well so I image it would work great. You might want to put a graham cracker crust in there though, if you freeze them, because the little nilla wafer might get to soggy.
Good idea. I think i will make them ahead of time… like tomorrow see how they turn out. party’s not till end of August!! Thanks
I just made bite-size versions of these in my mini muffin tin. I used purple mini vanilla wafers for the crust and they were perfect for Valentine’s Day! I couldn’t find mini foil cupcake liners so I just used paper ones, but they worked great! Thanks!
Is there a way to make a crust from grahm crackers instead of vanilla wafers
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving!! and it was a winner.. I couldnt stop eating them. Great recipe, Thanks for sharing!
I just made this mini cheesecakes and OMG!!! they are delicious! i didnt wanted to bake them the batter by it self was delious! thank you for sharing!
These turned out great! I used pre-packaged mini tender flake tarts because I needed to whip up something fast, big hit!
I just discovered your blog and love it. I made these last week for a friend’s birthday and they were delicious! I did have to cook them longer though, more like 25 min. Maybe my oven is weird? Anyway, we ate them plain but I really want to try the berries with whipped cream. However I want to make them in advance and am worried about the whipped cream collapsing. Do you have any tricks to avoid this?
Nope, whipped cream is really best fresh!
OMG! am I blind? I just saw Kristina’s post and she said it makes 46. DUH me! Thank you so much.
These look scrumptiously delicious! I am planning to make them for a 25th anniversary party so the silver foil will be perfect. I was wondering though, to make the tiny or bite-size ones (2″) how many will you get out of one batch?
I just made the mini version of these… It made 46 mini tarts and they baked for 12 minutes until they were done. Great recipe! Can’t wait to take them to the baby shower tomorrow. Thanks, gals!
I’m a little late on this, but these are amazing! I love cheesecake and have been disappointed with the taste of other cupcake sized treats like this, but I decided to try these and they are amazing!! I ended up tasting a bit of the batter and could not wait for them to get out of the oven. I actually couldn’t wait for them to cool down either as i ate one with a spoon fresh out of the oven. I got the thumbs up from my husband too, who also was too impatient to wait for them to cool. I think these are my new go-to treat.
Hmmm, maybe these will work in the jars with a traditional crust. Think that's the game plan for tomorrow. 🙂
What a great idea Ang- I love it!
I just modified this recipe to suit the season (and the ingredients I had on hand). In place of the Nilla Wafers I used TJ's Triple Ginger Snaps. I left out the lemon juice and instead folded mixed in about 1/4+ cup Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix (I accidentally opened a can instead of pure pumpkin and wanted to try these with the leftover mix). I also added 1/4 t. nutmeg. I cut in another 1/2-1 t. per tart of the pumpkin mix after I put the batter in the muffin tins. Despite some baking drama, they're really delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
I cannot wait to try these. I am the only one in my family who likes cheesecake, do they freexe well for the left overs?
I've made these twice now and both times everyone loved them! There were 24 of them (I doubled the recipe) and they still were not enough! It's a keeper!
These were great! Topped them with the strawberry sauce and a little whipped cream!
finnchick- those are actually just foil cupcake liners. You can find them in the baking section of most grocery stores. Although every once and a while I find them in the section near the actual foil as well. Hope that helps!
Where can I find the little tins for this recipe?
I made these last night for the 4th, and of course I had to try one to make sure they were good. OH MY GOD!! So good! I will use this recipe for cheesecake of all sizes. It was so simple, cheesecake is always daunting to me. I ran out of muffin papers so I have to go out and get more but I'm going to make another 1/2 of the recipe too!! I'm going to top them with fresh, homemade whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries. So delicious. Thanks!!
Stefanie, I can see why you would question that, sorry if it wasn't clear! They are just normal sized muffin tins 🙂
Sorry if this is a ridiculous questions, but are these regular sized cupcakes or mini? I realize the title is mini, but I don't know that applies to the fact that they are miniature cakes. 😀 If they are mini cupcakes, does it matter if I make them regular sized or does that mess them up?
These look delicious and super easy! I'll have to try them this Sunday for our break the fast meal.
(Also as a side note, my roommate was telling me that her sister, Tara S. and her husband Josh, are in your ward in Louisiana. Small world).
Meridee- ditch the paper part. Well, I actually save them and use them for other muffins or cupcakes. But they just put them in there to help separate the foils.