Mini 4th of July Cheesecake
This red, white, and blue mini 4th of July cheesecake recipe is the perfect patriotic dessert! Each bite-sized treat has a sweet crust, a deliciously creamy cheesecake, and a rich topping with cream and berries!
Servings: 18 cheesecake
Calories: 212kcal
Ingredients
Crust
- 5 ounces Vanilla Wafers
- 2 TBS butter melted
Filling
- 16 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Topping
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 TBS powdered sugar
- 1 TBS instant cheesecake pudding mix dry
- fresh berries cut into bite-sized pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line two muffin tins with cupcake liners for 18 cheesecakes.
Crust
- Add Vanilla Wafers to food processor and pulse until fine crumbs form.
- Add butter and pulse again until the crumbs and butter are fully combined and form a thicker mixture.
- Fill prepped cupcake liners with about 1 TBS of the crust mixture and press down into the cup gently with the back of the tablespoon.
Filling
- Cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth using a paddle attachment in a stand mixer. Scrape down the sides as needed to make sure the ingredients are well mixed.
- Add sour cream, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla to the creamed mixture and beat until smooth.
- Add 1/4 cup on top of each of the crusts in the cupcake liners, leaving about 1/4 inch at the top of each of the cups.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 350 for 25 minutes. Turn off the oven, crack the oven door, and leave the cheesecakes in the oven for another hour until fully set.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Once at room temperature, put the cheesecakes in the fridge to chill for another hour.
Topping
- Just before serving, whip heavy cream, powdered sugar, and instant pudding mix together until the mixture turns fluffy.
- Pipe a large dollop of topping onto each of the mini cheesecakes.
- Top each of the cheesecakes with fresh berries (or just topping for white cheesecakes).
- Serve immediately and enjoy chilled!
Notes
If you want to prepare ahead of time, make the cheesecakes and topping and refrigerate those. Add the toppings right before you serve.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
The crust will soften after being in the fridge for 24 hours. They’ll still taste fine, just know that the crust will be a bit softer after 24 hours. If you know you want to make them ahead of time and worried about a soft crust, you may want to do a graham cracker crust instead.
If you want to make a full 24 cheesecakes (instead of the 18 it’s written for), put 2 tsp of crust into each cup and 2-3 TBS filling. They’ll be a little smaller but still have a good ratio of filling to crust.
Ingredient Notes:
- Instant cheesecake pudding filling – you want this to be dry, not already mixed together.
- Heavy whipping cream – make sure this is cold, straight out of the fridge, for the best consistency.
- Powdered sugar – also known as confectioners sugar
- Vanilla Wafers - you can use either the regular size or the mini ones
- Cream cheese – this needs to be at room temperature so that you don’t end up with lumps in your cheesecake. I recommend taking it out about an hour before you’re ready to start making your filling!
- Instant cheesecake pudding mix – can also substitute this with vanilla instant pudding mix, it just won’t have the same distinct cheesecake filling.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cheesecake | Calories: 212kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 149mg | Potassium: 61mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 531IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 1mg