Peanut Butter Cup Mini Cheesecakes

It’s National Cheesecake Day! Woot, woot! This is one that I can’t let pass quietly. So I decided to share one of my favorite cheesecake recipes from Miss Paula Deen: Peanut Butter Cup Mini Cheesecakes. 

These are so, so delicious, and really easy to make. Because they’re baked in a muffin tin, there’s no water bath necessary {the few times I’ve used a water bath to make a cheesecake, the outcome was not pretty. Soggy cheesecake is no one’s friend.}, and because they’re mini, they cook in less than a half hour!

They’re also adorable, because they’re mini. My husband makes fun of me all of the time for one of my favorite sayings, which is: “They’re fun ’cause they’re little.” I mean, everything is more fun in a mini version, wouldn’t you say? Perhaps with the exception of men’s bathing suits and beer. But pretty much anything else.

Plus, they have a super fun little surprise baked inside: a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup! Yummy, yummy, yummy.

While I followed Paula Deen’s recipe pretty closely, I did make a few little changes. I added an additional tablespoon of butter into the crust {almost certain that this is the first time anyone actually ADDED butter to a Paula Deen recipe} and used vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract.

Peanut Butter Cup Mini Cheesecakes

Jenn Young

Mini cheesecakes with a fun little surprise baked inside: a Reese's peanut butter cup!

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 40 mins

Ingredients

  

For crust

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 5 Tbsp butter melted
• 12 bite-size peanut butter cups unwrapped

For filling

• 2 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 c sugar
• 1/4 c all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 2 eggs

Instructions

 

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a cupcake wrapper in each cup of a 12-cup muffin tin.
• 2. In a food processor, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until crumbs are moistened. Place approximately one tablespoon of crumbs into each cupcake wrapper and press down. {The bottom of a juice glass works perfectly for this!} Place a peanut butter cup in the center of each crust.
• 3. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar, flour, and vanilla bean paste and mix thoroughly. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Spoon cream cheese mixture over peanut butter cups and graham cracker crusts, making sure the peanut butter cup is completely covered. Tap muffin tin on counter to flatten out top and get rid of bubbles. Bake until just set, about 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Notes

Adapted from Paula Deen

Looking for more cheesecake deliciousness? Don’t miss these: 

Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake Bites

Mini Dulce de Leche Cheesecakes