12 Days of Recipes: Mini Cheesecakes

This recipe is super fast and easy to cut in half or double up, depending on how many you want to make at once. They will keep a few days in the fridge but at some point, the Nilla Wafer will get too soggy for my taste. There are two ways to make these - mini and micro-mini. You can do regular full-size cupcakes for a “mini cheesecake” or, use the mini cupcake size for a “micro-mini cheesecake”. Yes, you can eat the micro-mini ones in ONE bite. Delicious. Also dangerous.

Ingredients

• 2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese (let it soften / warm a bit so it’s closer to room temperature; easier to mix)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 box Nilla Wafers* (regular size for regular cupcakes; mini wafters for the micro-mini ones)
• 1 can cherry pie filling (or other topping(s) of your choice) - entirely optional

*While you can most certainly purchase any brand of “vanilla wafer” cookie of your choosing, we all know Nilla Wafers taste the best, so splurge for this dessert and get the box of Nilla Wafers! Save the store-brand for snacking on later…

Directions
1.    Beat cream cheese, vanilla, eggs, sugar together until smooth

2.    Place wafer in bottom of cupcake wrapper (in cupcake baking tin), flat side down

3.    Pour mixture in each cupcake wrapper, about 2/3 full (for easier pouring, put mixture into plastic bag, cut off bottom corner (small) and squeeze mix into wrapper

4.    Bake at 350 for 15 minutes

5.    Immediately before serving, put 1-3 cherries on each (1-2 for mini, 2-3 for regular cupcake size).

6.    Store cakes in air-tight container in fridge.

Makes about 20 cupcake sized or 50 micro-mini cheesecakes.

Photo courtesy Felicity Tai on Pexels