Mini Cheesecake Cookies

These straightforward mini cheesecake cookies have been a holiday staple in our family forever! Nilla wafers are topped with cheesecake batter and cherry pie filling. A reliable bite-size treat!

It’s Christmas cookie time!

We carved out just enough time after getting the boys to bed on Friday night to whip up one of our all-time favorite Christmas recipes – these straightforward mini cheesecakes! We are such a sucker for cheesecake, so it’s no surprise that this recipe – one of our mom’s oldest and most popular – had always been one of our favorites as a kid. We guess our cheesecake infatuation started from a young age!

Just picture little 8-year-old us going bananas over these little cheesecakes. We were insane about them then, and still am now. These little cheesecake bites were one of three cookies we looked for on every cookie tray (along with buckeyes and peanut butter blossoms), and we always, always ate precisely one more than we should have (oops!).

These are one of the easiest cookies to throw together, which makes them reliable for someone who needs to squeeze in baking around naps and bedtimes.

All you need to do is grab your mini muffin pans, line them with some paper cups, drop a Nilla wafer in the bottom of each one, then mix together the cheesecake batter (which takes less than 2 minutes), fill the cups, and pop them in the oven!

(Then clean up and get to the couch in enough time to do a little Netflix binging before bed!)

Once the mini cheesecakes are cooled and chilled for a bit, pop open your favorite can of cherry pie filling (or grab a jar of from-scratch from your stash), and top each little cheesecake with a dollop of the pie filling.

Then take a bite… And another bite… And then another. Speaking from experience, obviously.

For a cheesecake lover like myself, these little cheesecake bites are the next best thing to a slice of regular ol’ cheesecake.

In our world, no holiday cookie tray is complete without a decent representation of these mini cheesecake cookies (but don’t leave those trays unattended, because we will eat them alllllll).

Q: What do you get most excited to see on a Christmas cookie tray?

Three years ago: Peanut Butter Swirl Chocolate Bark
Four years ago: From-scratch Torrone

Mini Cheesecake Cookies

Yield: 40 cookies These miniature cheesecake cookies are straightforward and a holiday staple in our family. A vanilla wafer is topped with cheesecake batter and cherry pie filling. A reliable bite-size treat!

• 40 vanilla wafers
• 16 ounce (453.59 g) package cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cherry pie filling

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two miniature muffin pans with paper liners (you will only need 40, so leave 8 cups empty). Place one Nilla wafer in the bottom of each mini muffin well. Set aside.
• Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the vanilla extract.
• Divide the batter evenly among each cup. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the edges and top appear set.
• Cool the cheesecakes completely in the pan, then transfer to an airtight container and chill for at least 2 hours. Top with a small amount of cherry pie filling. Refrigerate until ready to serve. The mini cheesecakes should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Notes

Nutritional values are based on one cookie

This recipe was originally published on December 22, 2010.

• Yield: 40 cookies
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook: 15 minutes
• Total: 2 hours 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 40 vanilla wafers
• 16 ounce ( 453.59 g ) package cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ cup ( 100 g ) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cherry pie filling

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two miniature muffin pans with paper liners (you will only need 40, so leave 8 cups empty). Place one Nilla wafer in the bottom of each mini muffin well. Set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the vanilla extract.
3. Divide the batter evenly among each cup. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the edges and top appear set.
4. Cool the cheesecakes completely in the pan, then transfer to an airtight container and chill for at least 2 hours. Top with a small amount of cherry pie filling. Refrigerate until ready to serve. The mini cheesecakes should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Notes

This recipe was originally published on December 22, 2010.