Holiday Food: Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes are one treat that just scream the holidays to me. Growing up, I remember our sweet neighbors bringing us a batch on a Christmas place and they were SO good!

My Mom adopted the recipe and it became a holiday tradition. Every so often, they’ll get made for a special occasion like a birthday, but that’s about it. I love these portion controlled treats so much, they were admittedly the thing I indulged the most in during our Black Friday Baking day.

I love these for the holidays for a few reason: first off, they are gorgeous! The red cherries on top make any holiday table pop and since they’re individually sized, it’s easy to make a batch, split it up and give them as yummy gifts. We didn’t package them up fancy on this day, but a layer of saran wrap and some cellophane makes an easy and quick gift. If you want an even easier solution, put a few in a disposable plastic container with a holiday theme and it matches perfectly.

Did I also mention these babies are super easy to make? The recipe is pretty much like any cheesecake, just split into cupcake liners in a muffin tin.

The recipe I used came from Onion Rings and Things (as I found it through Pinterest) and I tweaked it a little bit.

So, here we have the recipe for very festive mini cherry cheesecakes!

 

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

(adapted from Onion Rings and Things)

Ingredients

16 Oz. Cream Cheese

2 Eggs

3/4 Cup Sugar

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Vanilla Wafers (2 for each cupcake)

1 Big Can Cherry Pie Filling

Instructions

Beat together everything except the cookies and pie filling / Put one or two cookies in each cupcake liner bottom ( I prefer 2) / Fill cupcake liners with the filling / Cook at 375F 15 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean) / When they’ve cooled, put a spoonful of cherry pie filling on top of the cupcakes / They’re ready!

You can dive right in, if you’re like me, and eat the cupcakes before they’ve set up in the fridge, but they’re better and the top is more solid if you let them chill in the fridge a little before serving.

I hope you enjoy the yumminess and spread the cherry cheesecake love to others this holiday season!