Miniature Lemon Blueberry Cheesecakes
Hey everybody! My name is Chelsea from Chelsea’s Messy Apron and I’m Alyssa’s newest contributor here on The Recipe Critic. I am so excited! I mean, I’ve only been drooling over Alyssa’s amazing recipes and photos for forever and now I get to be contributing to her site. She’s quite the talented recipe creator and photographer, but you already know that!
Cheesecake can be pretty intimidating. (At least I think so.) But these little cheesecakes couldn’t get easier! They come together incredibly fast and still taste like a classic cheesecake. The baking time is only 20-22 minutes and there is no need for a water bath. (!!!)
The crust is a simple graham cracker crust pressed into the bottom of a lined muffin tin. A quick tip – you can use the lid of your milk to press down the crumbs and create the perfect mini cheesecake crust.
The filling is simple and has an incredibly fresh flavor thanks to the lemon zest. Once the cheesecakes come out of the oven, they cool for a couple of hours and then they are ready to be topped.
Once the cheesecakes come out of the oven, they cool for a couple of hours and then they are ready to be topped. The topping for this recipe is blueberry jam and fresh blueberries, but if you wanted to switch up the fruit to say raspberries or strawberries, these would be the cutest Valentine’s treats!
And speaking of Valentine’s treats, you’ll want to check out my site because I have 14 days of Valentine’s goodies starting tomorrow. Also be sure to check out the $ 400 cash giveaway going on right now!
- 4 sheets of graham crackers
- 1 tbsp. white sugar
- 2 tbsp. butter, melted
- 1 package cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp. lemon zest
- 6 tbsp. blueberry jam, separated
- ½ pint blueberries
- Optional: powdered sugar for dusting
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 9 liners and fill up half of the other empty spaces with water. This ensures even baking.
- In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers to crumbs. Stir in the sugar and melted butter. Press an even amount of graham cracker crust into the bottom of each muffin liner.
- Press down the crust with a milk cap or the backside of a tablespoon measuring spoon and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and white sugar. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add in the vanilla extract, egg, and lemon zest. Beat until combined.
- Spoon the cheesecake filling evenly between the 9 cups and bake for 20-22 minutes. The centers will still jiggle a little bit, but the edges should be a very light brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes and then transfer to the fridge and let cool for at least 2 hours.
- The cheesecakes may have risen in the oven and will deflate quite a bit while cooling.
- Once the cheesecakes have been cooled for 2 hours in the fridge, place 4 and ½ tablespoons of blueberry jam in a small bowl and microwave for 20-25 seconds. Spoon ½ tablespoon of jam on top of each cheesecake and spread to cover the top.
- Immediately top with fresh blueberries.
- Places the last 1 and ½ tablespoon in the same small bowl and microwave for 10-15 seconds. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of all of the fresh blueberries with the jam. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top if desired.
You can also connect with Chelsea’s Messy Apron here!
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