These mini strawberry cheesecakes are made with a graham cracker crust, topped with creamy cheesecake filling, and topped with homemade strawberry topping.
These are perfect for making ahead and are made with super simple ingredients. These are extra creamy and made without a water bath! These are perfect to make in strawberry season!
For more delicious cheesecake recipes, check out my bananas foster cheesecake, lemon meringue cheesecake, 3 ingredient no bake cheesecake, creamy vanilla cheesecake.
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Why this recipe works
- Strawberry topping- These mini cheesecakes are topped with a delicious and flavorful strawberry topping that goes perfectly with classic cheesecake flavor.
- Make ahead friendly- This recipe is a make-ahead recipe, so it’s perfect to make the day before a gathering.
- No crack cheesecakes- These bakes at a low-temperature help to ensure that the cheesecakes don’t crack.
- Time- They take 30 minutes to prep and bake from start to finish. Then you will need to allow them to sit in the fridge for another two hours.
- Buttery graham cracker crust- These cheesecakes are made with a delicious buttery two ingredient graham cracker crust.
Ingredients
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and efficiently.
For the crust:
Graham crackers/ tea biscuits- we like to use tea biscuits of digestive biscuits, but graham crackers will work as well.
Melted butter– melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds pulses, to make sure that the butter doesn’t boil up and explode in the microwave (been there done that), or melt it on the stovetop.
For the filling:
Cream cheese- the most important ingredient in this recipe, is the cream cheese. Make sure that you are using full-fat cream cheese, for a cheesecake with no cracks, it’s important that you use full-fat cream cheese and make sure that it’s at room temperature.
Granulated sugar- you will need one cup of granulated sugar for this recipe. The cheesecake will be sweet, but not too sweet. One cup of sugar is the perfect balance of sweetness for this recipe.
Eggs- You will need 2 large eggs for this recipe. To get a perfect cheesecake, make sure that the eggs are at room temperature.
Heavy cream- Make sure that your heavy cream is at room temperature.
Vanilla extract- vanilla extract adds extra flavor.
Sour cream- we suggest using full-fat sour cream for this recipe. The sour cream makes the cheesecake batter creamier and lighter.
A pinch of salt- helps to balance the flavors.
Instructions
Prepare a muffin tip with paper liners, and preheat an oven to 180c (350f).
Make the crust: pulse graham crackers or digestive biscuits in a food processor until fine crumbs form. If you don’t have a food processor on hand, place the crackers in a Ziplock bag and smash them with a cup until fine crumbs form.
Into a small to medium mixing bowl, add the crumbs, and melted butter. Mix with a spoon until the crumbs are coated with butter.
Scoop about 1 teaspoon of the crumbs and place it in each muffin tin, pressing evenly and firmly into the pan.
Bake the crust in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 5-8 minutes. Keep an eye on the crust and make sure it doesn’t burn. Take the crust out of the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Lower the temperature to 140c (280f).
In a big mixing bowl, add the room temperature cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar, and mix with an electric hand mixer until the cream cheese is creamy.
Whisk the eggs with a fork, and add the eggs, kosher salt, and vanilla extract and mix until the mixture is creamy and smooth.
Pour the cheesecake batter over the crust, filling each mold until it’s almost full, and release air bubbles by tapping the pan onto a flat surface.
Bake the cheesecakes in a preheated 140c (280f) oven for about 15 minutes or until the edges of the cheesecakes are set, but the middle is a bit jiggly. Keep the oven door closed for 5 minutes.
Open the oven door halfway, and let the cheesecake cool to room temperature for 1-2 hours.
After the cheesecake is cooled, wrap the cheesecake with a plastic wrap tightly, and place the cheesecake in the fridge to cool completely for at least 5 hours.
Make the strawberry topping
In a saucepan, add strawberries that are cut in half, add the sugar, and lemon juice, and mix over medium-high heat.
Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes mixing occasionally.
Set aside and let it cool. Top the mini cheesecakes with about a tablespoon of the strawberry topping and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Make sure that you are using room-temperature cream cheese in this recipe, this step makes it easier to mix the cream cheese with no unnecessary lumps, we don’t want that.
- Use a nonstick cupcake or muffin pan. We use nonstick pans for all of our mini cheesecake recipes. This makes sure that your cheesecakes will be easy to release from the pan.
- Use high-fat cream cheese or the well-known Philadelphia cream cheese. Using full-fat cream cheese ensures you that your cheesecake will be stable and will not crack.
- Let your cheesecake cool in the fridge for at least 5 hours. We know it’s very hard to resist eating this delicious cheesecake right away, but you have to let the cheesecake cool and set it in the pan. We like to let the cheesecake sit in the fridge overnight.
- For a smooth and creamy cheesecake, make sure that you are using room-temperature ingredients. Before you begin to make this cheesecake, make sure that your cream cheese is completely soft, and that your eggs are at room temperature.
- Don’t overbeat the mixture! It’s really easy to overbeat the mixture, and that is one of the most common mistakes. To avoid overbeating your mixture, make sure that you lower the speed of the hand mixer and add each egg at a time.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to ensure that you have a homogeneous mixture that has no cream cheese lumps.
- Don’t open the oven door before the cake is fully baked or about to be baked! Drastic changes in the temperature of the cake while baking can cause the cake to collapse or crack.
Faq's
The middle of the cheesecake will look slightly jiggly, but the edges will be set. The cheesecakes will continue to stabilize in the fridge and in the cooling process.
These cheesecakes will last up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
Yes. If you are using a mini muffin pan, you will bake these mini cheesecakes for 10 minutes at 150c.
Storing
Store these mini cheesecakes in the fridge (because they contain dairy) and cover them tightly with plastic wrap for up to 4 days.
Freezing
To freeze these cheesecakes, bake them according to the instructions, then cool them according to the instructions in the fridge.
When the cheesecakes are completely cooled, you can freeze them covered in a few layers of plastic wrap or foil. These cheesecakes will freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, place the cheesecakes in the fridge overnight.
Make it in advance
Make this in advance by making it and baking it according to the instructions. Make the strawberry topping as well, and let it chill in the fridge for 1-2 days.
Top the cheesecakes with the strawberry topping and serve when ready to serve! Top the cheesecakes with the topping only before serving!
Substitutions
Gluten-free - If you want to make this recipe gluten-free, simply replace the graham crackers with gluten-free graham crackers. And the flour with cornstarch!
Variations
Vanilla Oreos- Replace the classic graham crackers with vanilla Oreos.
Vanilla bean- Add the inside of the vanilla bean and add it to the cheesecake mixture instead of the vanilla extract. Or use a vanilla bean extract.
Fruit- if you don't like strawberries, make this recipe with a different fruit like raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc.
Crust- feel free to use your favorite flavored biscuits like biscoff biscuits, chocolate biscuits, Oreos, etc.
Equipment
- Mixing bowls- best glass mixing bowls.
- Whisk set- our favorite copper whisk set.
- Muffin tins- We used a regular-sized muffin tin for this recipe. If you want to use mini muffins or cupcake tins, make sure that you don't overfill them and divide them until you run out of cheesecake batter.
- Open star piping tip- our favorite Wilton piping tip for cupcake decoration.
- Electric hand mixer
More mini cheesecake recipes
Mini cheesecake bites- These mini cheesecake bites are made with an oreo crust, creamy and easy cheesecake filling, topped with our homemade salted caramel sauce, and topped with whipped cream.
Mini oreo cheesecakes- These mini Oreo cheesecakes are made with an Oreo crust, topped with a creamy Oreo cheesecake filling, and topped with Oreo whipped cream.
Mini pumpkin cheesecakes- These mini pumpkin cheesecakes are made with a biscoff cookie crust, filled with pumpkin cheesecake filling, and topped with whipped cream and cinnamon!
If you tried this strawberry cheesecake cupcakes recipe, don’t forget to leave a rating and a comment below. We love hearing from you.
If you liked this recipe:
📖 Recipe
Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 cup Graham crackers
- 45 g Butter melted
- 1 tablespoon Granulated sugar optional
Filling:
- 340 g Cream cheese
- ½ cup Granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup Sour cream
- 2 Eggs
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
Strawberry topping:
- 230 g Strawberries
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon Lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
Instructions
- Prepare a muffin tip with paper liners, and preheat an oven to 180c (350f).
- Make the crust: pulse graham crackers or digestive biscuits in a food processor until fine crumbs form. If you don’t have a food processor on hand, place the crackers in a Ziplock bag and smash them with a cup until fine crumbs form.
- Into a small to medium mixing bowl, add the crumbs, and melted butter. Mix with a spoon until the crumbs are coated with butter.
- Scoop about 1 teaspoon of the crumbs and place it in each muffin tin, pressing evenly and firmly into the pan.
- Bake the crust in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 5-8 minutes. Keep an eye on the crust and make sure it doesn’t burn. Take the crust out of the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Lower the temperature to 140c (280f).
- In a big mixing bowl, add the room temperature cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar, and mix with an electric hand mixer until the cream cheese is creamy.
- Whisk the eggs with a fork, and add the eggs, kosher salt, and vanilla extract and mix until the mixture is creamy and smooth.
- Overbeating can cause a weird cheesecake texture and stop the cake from cracking.
- Pour the cheesecake batter over the crust, filling each mold until it’s almost full, and release air bubbles by tapping the pan onto a flat surface.
- Bake the cheesecakes in a preheated 140c (280f) oven for about 15 minutes or until the edges of the cheesecakes are set, but the middle is a bit jiggly. Keep the oven door closed for 5 minutes.
- Open the oven door halfway, and let the cheesecake cool to room temperature for 1-2 hours.
- After the cheesecake is cooled, wrap the cheesecake with a plastic wrap tightly, and place the cheesecake in the fridge to cool completely for at least 5 hours.
Make the strawberry topping
- In a saucepan, add strawberries that are cut in half, add the sugar, and lemon juice, and mix over medium-high heat.
- Mix the cornstarch with water and add to the mixture, mixing constantly.
- Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes mixing occasionally.
- Set aside and let it cool. Top the mini cheesecakes with about a tablespoon of the strawberry topping and enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure that you are using room-temperature cream cheese in this recipe, this step makes it easier to mix the cream cheese with no unnecessary lumps, we don’t want that.
- Use a nonstick cupcake or muffin pan. We use nonstick pans for all of our mini cheesecake recipes. This makes sure that your cheesecakes will be easy to release from the pan.
- Use high-fat cream cheese or the well-known Philadelphia cream cheese. Using full-fat cream cheese ensures you that your cheesecake will be stable and will not crack.
- Let your cheesecake cool in the fridge for at least 5 hours. We know it’s very hard to resist eating this delicious cheesecake right away, but you have to let the cheesecake cool and set it in the pan. We like to let the cheesecake sit in the fridge overnight.
- For a smooth and creamy cheesecake, make sure that you are using room-temperature ingredients. Before you begin to make this cheesecake, make sure that your cream cheese is completely soft, and that your eggs are at room temperature.
- Don’t overbeat the mixture! It’s really easy to overbeat the mixture, and that is one of the most common mistakes. To avoid overbeating your mixture, make sure that you lower the speed of the hand mixer and add each egg at a time.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to ensure that you have a homogeneous mixture that has no cream cheese lumps.
- Don’t open the oven door before the cake is fully baked or about to be baked! Drastic changes in the temperature of the cake while baking can cause the cake to collapse or crack.
Jo says
I have one suggestion for the recipe. Can you please note how much water to mix with the cornstarch for the strawberry topping?
RichandDelish says
Hi! For one tsp of cornstarch mix with about 2-3 tsp of water.
Jodi says
Can you use paper cups in the tins?
RichandDelish says
If they fit, it should work!
Jo says
Nevermind- It says use paper liners in the recipe I missed that!
Ciara says
Wow! So delicious. They were really easy to make and look really cute. I couldn’t believe how easy this recipe was. The cheesecake is rich but not too sweet. I also like that it would be easy to customize the topping. Will definitely be making this one over and over this summer. Thanks!
RichandDelish says
I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you for your sweet comment!
YUKTHA SATHEESAN says
😍 wow! so delicious 😋