Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes For The Win!

So this is part one of my pumpkin recipes for the month of October. I thought it would be cool to focus on one ingredient for a month. I like pumpkin flavored things and I know a lot of people do as well. I choose to make mini pumpkin cheesecakes because I thought they are the perfect little fall dessert. I added spices like fresh cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and Chinese five spice. People really love my pumpkin cheesecake, I normally make a gingersnap crust but I switched it up and made a pretzel crust. I wanted to use my mini springform pans so I made three 4 inch cheesecakes and topped it with caramel, chocolate ganache, and a white chocolate glaze. I also made mini cheesecakes using my mini cheesecake pan and then sandwiched  them together and covered them in dark chocolate. Those were truly bite size.

Bite size pumpkin cheesecakes

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

These tasted amazing, I really like making mini desserts because you can plate these beautifully and you don't have to worry about slicing a giant cheesecake. You can just set the mini's on a platter and let people grab them. Also these are something different that you could make this fall or for a Thanksgiving party to impress your friends.

Here's what you are going to need

Pretzel crust

• 1 cup crushed pretzels
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 stick melted butter

Pumpkin Cheesecake

• 2  8oz cream cheese (softened)
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 can of pumpkin puree (8oz)
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1teaspoon of allspice
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon of cardamom
• 1 teaspoon of ginger
• 2 tablespoons of cinnamon

toppings (optional)

• chocolate ganache
• dulce de leche

First take your crushed pretzels and add brown sugar and melted butter and stir together

to make a cup of crushed pretzels I used about 2 cups of whole pretzels

It will have a wet sand texture

Place in a sprayed springform or muffin tin and back in 350F oven for 8 minutes

 Take out of the oven, but don't turn off oven and set aside.

Take your softened cream cheese and add your sugar, vanilla, and spices and blend until combined.

when you can make an indention with your finger the cheesecake is softened enough

I always add a ton of spices

Taste it here

This is where I like to taste to  make sure that the spices are prominent, remember when you bake that the spices will subside, so I like to make the spices a little stronger. I also like to taste this before I add the eggs.


Add in your pumpkin and mix until combined.

give it one last spice taste before you add in those eggs

Add in your eggs and mix one at a time

don't overmix your batter or you will have cracks when your cheesecake bakes

Place the cheesecake mix in the pans

I just love how small and cute these are

Place cheesecakes in a 325F for 1 hour
Then let them cool to room temperature before placing in the refrigerator for a few hours

these are good as is but you could add a little whipped cream, or chocolate drizzle and serve them right up

I added a little dulce de leche and sprinkled sea salt on top (totally optional)

Add a little dulce de leche

They look so yummy

Here are the tiny ones before they were sandwiched together

I used a mini cheese cake pan for these with the leftover cheesecake filling

Here was some chocolate ganache I had in the fridge, I just whipped it  up and pipped that on top of the bigger cheesecakes

There is no better thing than whipped chocolate ganache

I didn't take a picture but I placed the cheesecakes in the freezer for 1 hour and  once they were completely frozen I melted dark chocolate with a little cream and poured that over the bite size cheesecakes and crumbled pretzels on top. ( you have to work fast because the chocolate ganache sets really fast since they are frozen)

these were gobbled up so fast

Here's what the inside looks like, you get those wonderful fall spices with the pumpkin cheesecake layers, salty from the pretzel layers, buttery sweetness from the dulce de leche and then it's all incased in chocolate. It's the perfect two bite desert.

I love how the dulce de leche oozes out

 As for the 4 inch mini cheesecakes I colored white chocolate ganache and added gold dust and little chocolate pearls, These were so yummy and something different.

I love looking at the fall layers

This is an easy recipe that you could change, if you are wanting to bake a 9in or 10 inch cheesecake you can with this recipe it just needs to be doubled. The baking times remain the same.

Pumpkin Cheesecake for the win

In the fall I love making pumpkin cheesecakes. This is like my go to dessert. This is a request from friends who have had my cheesecakes and want to try out this recipe. The cool thing about my cheesecake recipe is that you can definitely customize this to your taste, and use the base of this recipe for any flavor cheesecake. Using this base I've made apple cinnamon cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, strawberry lemon, key lime, so many cheesecakes. I've also made this cheesecake so many times that I can literally make it just blindly. So let's start with what you will need.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin cheesecake filling

• 1  cup of canned pumpkin
• 4  8oz packages of cream cheese (softened room temp)
• 4  large eggs (room temp)
• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon of ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon of ground cardamom
• 2 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of allspice

Pumpkin cheesecake crust

• 30 gingersnap cookies
• 1 stick melted butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Chocolate ganache for the top

• 1 cup dark chocolate morsels 
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

First I start by taking my springform pan and I spray it with cooking spray and set it aside.

You can preheat your oven to 350F

Next I start on the crust. Take those gingersnap cookies and smash them in a ziplock bag or if you have a food processor you can place them in there. You are trying to just get crumbs. Honestly you don't have to crush them to a fine dust, I keep my gingersnap pieces kind of big.  Maybe I'm lazy, but it doesn't matter in the end.

Once you finish grinding up those cookies add in the 1/4 cup of granulated sugar (sometimes I add 1 tablespoon of cinnamon now) and the melted butter.

Press the cookie crust mixture to the bottom of your springform pan. I press lightly and up the sides a bit.

Place the pan in the oven to bake for 6 minutes then remove.

Next on to the actual filling.

Ok place those four cream cheese blocks and 3/4 cups granulated sugar into your stand mixer with a paddle attachment (hey not everyone has a stand mixer, you can definitely use a hand mixer) start on medium speed.

Now is when I like to add all of the spices, 1 cup of pumpkin and vanilla extract. I put them all in and give the mixer a spin and then taste this cream cheese mixture and see if I need to add more cinnamon. I like a strong pumpkin spiced flavor so just taste it. this is the only time you can taste your mixture before you add in those eggs. So taste it and adjust. Also when you bake things in the oven the spice subsides, so add more. 

Now add your 3 tablespoons of flour to your mixture.

Add a 1/4 tablespoon of salt to the mixture

Turn your mixer on and mix to combined. Take your room temperature eggs and one at a time add them to your cream cheese mixture. On medium speed until incorporated. Continue until each egg is mixed in the batter.

Your batter will become more liquid, and pour that mixture over the crust that has been cooling (this is important, try not to overmix your batter because it will lead to cracks on the top of  your cheesecake)

Decrease the temperature of your oven down to 325F and bake this cheesecake for 1 hour. Then turn off your oven and let the cheesecake stay in the oven for 1 hour with the oven door cracked. After that I set the cheesecake on the counter with a towel over the top, just so it gets to room temperature.

Now I did not take photos of the next step, but in the future I will. 

It's ganache time, you don't have to do this step, you can serve the cheesecake as is, maybe whip up some whipped cream, but I like the ganache top. 

Ok start by taking the cup of heavy cream and pouring it in a small saucepan or small pot on the stove on medium/high heat.  Place your cup of dark chocolate morsels in a bowl. 

When the heavy cream begins to boil take it off the heat and pour it over the dark chocolate. Let it sit for about a minute, and then stir until you get a smooth consistency.

Pour your chocolate on the top of your cheesecake starting in the center of your cheesecake (the mixture will spread out) I stop before it gets to the edge because I don't like it dripping into my springform or down the sides of the cheesecake.

Lastly place those chopped nuts on top of the ganache.

I place a piece of aluminum foil, or plastic wrap and place this in the fridge. I normally bake this a day before I would like to serve it. So after refrigeration, take the outer ring off and you are ready to serve. 

Everyone loves this for Thanksgiving

Here's with chopped pecans

So there you have, these are really easy to make and customize it how your would like it. If you'd like to just make a regular cheesecake just omit the pumpkin and spices. If you want to make chocolate cheesecake, instead of gingersnaps use Oreo cookies and add cocoa powder to the cream cheese. Yeah let me know how it goes.