I remember mini cheesecakes from when I was little. They were a quick and easy dessert that could be topped with canned pie filling and made to order for a large amount of people with short notice.
Some things never change, and having a quick delicious dessert recipe on hand is always helpful in a pinch. When Lucky Leaf asked me to taste test some of their pie fillings, I knew I wanted to reconstruct my childhood memory into a recipe my readers could whip out when needed.
That’s where things started to go wrong. I wanted quick and easy. So while meandering around the market for supplies, I saw Philadelphia Cheesecake Filling. (Don’t judge. My thinking was that if I were in a pinch and were going to use canned pie fillings, why wouldn’t I also use other delicious shortcuts?) I picked it up, foil (yes, these are important) cupcake liners, and my vanilla wafers and set out to have dessert done in five minutes.
Not so much. The prepackaged cheesecake mix was a ‘spoon and serve’ disaster. It didn’t look right, had a texture somewhere between pudding a mousse and wasn’t making for a pretty or homemade looking dessert. So…. I tried baking it…. Well, my advice is if you are in need of a fat kid moment, keep it at that. Grab a spoon and enjoy the cheesecake mix as is because that’s as good as it’s getting with this one.
Then, I thought about those Jell-O No Bake Cheesecakes. But I was in a particularly cheap mood and the $2.35 just wasn’t jiving with me when I had 8 blocks of cream cheese at home in the fridge. It was on sale, I swear.
So here’s what I ended up with. A semi-homemade, super simple, but not the 5 minute flash kind of dessert that still looks classy when brought to the party.
Mini Apple Cheesecakes
Adapted from Rachael Ray Magazine Oct 2011
Ingredients:
- 1/4 box (about 14) Vanilla wafer cookies
- 3 tbs butter, melted
- 11 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 can Lucky Leaf Apple Pie Filling/Topper
- Walnuts and Whipped cream for topping
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 10 foil liners.
In a food processor or with a little aggression, ziplock and rolling pin, crumb the vanilla wafers. In a small bowl, toss the cookie crumbs with the melted butter. Place about 1 teas, or enough to cover, cookie mixture in each of the lined tins. Use the bottom of a flat shot glass or your fingers to press the crumbs firmly into each tin. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool.
Reduce oven to 325 degrees F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time and stop to scrape down the sides after each. Make sure your cream cheese mixture is smooth.
Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter evenly in the cooled muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes, until the mixture is set, but jiggles slightly. Turn off oven, but leave the cheesecakes inside with the door cracked for 30 minutes more.
Remove from oven and refrigerate at least 5 hours before serving.
Before serving, place 2 to 3 apple slices over each cheesecake with a dollop of whipped cream and some walnuts on top.
The apples from the jarred pie filling were good. Win. If you were an apple fan and in a sweets mood, you could eat these right out of the can. The texture of the apples was nice, and not at all ‘mushy’ like I had anticipated. I love how they streamlined this dessert and really dressed up the whole package.
Lucky Leaf is providing two of my readers with copies of their new recipe book packed with ideas and recipes that make use of their pie fillings. There were a lot of creative little desserts in this one that would certainly help me branch out my dessert options (more fruit!). Please leave a comment if you would like to be entered to win and winners will be drawn at random on December 19th 2011 and posted on December 21st.
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My name is Kita. I am a 20 something girl geek and website/graphic designer who can rock an apron like there is no tomorrow. 
How adorable are these? Lovely!
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I love mini cheesecakes. I just splurged and bought a mini piemaker, I will have to look for the jar filling at the store. Sounds like it would be a step up from the canned variety. Your dessert looks so yummy!
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Turning into Sandra Lee with your semi-homemade recipe? Hehe. But seriously, thanks for the heads up on the pre-made filling. I always wondered how that worked (if at all). But it seems like in this case you really cannot beat the real deal. And mini cheesecakes are the best. Although I didn’t have a clue they existed until a few years ago.
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Mini cheesecakes make me so happy! Yum!
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Oooh, pretty! I love mini cheesecakes, and i’ve actually never had an apple variety!
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What a cute dessert and such lovely pictures! Great recipe!
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Those remind me of the mini cherry cheesecakes my mom used to make when I was little. Those things were delicious!
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These look amazing! So cute and they look really delicious.
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Love the mini cheesecakes. Super cute. Too bad it ended up being a pain. I’ve always questioned if the shortcut cheesecakes were worth it or not. Sometimes they look pretty but at what cost and what trouble?
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I love mini desserts! They always make me feel like I can eat more, guilt-free.
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Looks pretty darn yummy to me, semi homemade and all. The only problem I can see is that with it being small bites, I’d eat far too many of them hehehe
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What a delicious way to use that pie filling! These look amazing!
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I love cheesecake. The mini ones only don’t make you feel so guilty. lol. these look absolutely fabulous.
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Well, they may not have turned out the way you expected, but they sure do look good!
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I love how the mini desserts looks like. Those are so perfect, and you don’t feel guilty if you one or two…or more…ok, these cheescakes look so yummy that I will feel guilty anyway, as I want to eat all of them.
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So cute! I love mini cheesecakes and these look delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever used apple on top though – sounds delicious!
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These are so cute and look quite yummy.
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Love mini cheesecakes and yes, I think this was a great use of the pie filling!
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I’ve been wondering if apples and cheesecake make a good match. This affirms it, they do! Making mini cakes of anything always seems to win me over. These look great
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They are adorable, and such a fun childhood treat:-). You sometimes just have to throw healthy out the window, LOL! Beautiful pictures:-) Hugs, Terra
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