sweet inspiration & fun baking ideas

I’m currently trying to make this recipe and find that the wafers don’t fit the mini baking cups, they stretch them out horribly. Did this happen to you? So I went and got the regular size baking cups and some mini nilla wafers hoping that I could find a combination that would work easily, but no such luck. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Sara – A baking emergency. I’ll try to help. – It sounds like you have the wrong size. The vanilla wafers fit perfectly into these.

Here is a link to show you the kind I used:
http://www.reynoldspkg.com/reynoldskitchens/en/product.asp?cat_id=1337?_id=1794

They were in a box like the green ones that are on that page, but they are foil instead of green.

REYNOLDS® MINI SIZE BAKING CUPS
Mini Foil – 2″, 48/pkg

I found them at the grocery store. Hope that helps some. Maybe you can try to break the wafers down and salvage what you started. Good luck!

Bakerella,

Thank you so much for your quick response! As you can probably tell from my first comment that I am a perfectionist at heart, but I’m trying to do some self rehab on that front. I went ahead and tried your recipe with the many different baking cup sizes mixed with the many different wafer sizes. Although they were considered a tasty success, I still plan to give it a go with the products that you suggested. I was proud enough of this batch though to share them with the neighbors who were quite impressed (that I was able to bake something to cute looking with a 5 month old on my hip) and pleased because everyone thought they tasted great! I have been further inspired by your website and beautiful baking masterpieces that I plan on trying the red velvet cake balls and oreo truffles this week! Thanks for being so inspiring and helpful!

Sara – I’m glad things worked out. I think you’ll like the other two recipes, too.

I´ve just found this MARVELLOUS BLOG. Congratulatiosn for all recipes and your art in kitchen.

The photo of your grandfather is really tender, he looks so happy.

Scuse my bad english, but there is more than 20 years I don´t write or speak.

Best wishes from Spain

Hilda

Thank you Hilda from Spain. My grandfather has quite a sweet tooth. And he loved these. His favorite though, is peanut butter fudge that I make for him every year at Christmas.

These look so scrumptious! I will be attempting to make them this weekend. But I was just wondering, if I would like to make only 2 dozen, do I just cut all the ingredients in half? Thanks!

Sure. Make sure you find the right size mini cups for these. They are aluminum and made by reynolds. The vanilla wafers fit perfectly in the bottom.

Waaa! I love it! Your G-pa is so cute, and I love the way you use the nilla wafers as a mini crust. SO easy! I’ve loved following your blog. :)
–Cassie

hey bakerella, i just wanted to say that you are awesome! you really inspire me to be more creative with my baking. thank you so much.

i also want to know how many people can this recipe serve up to?

btw, i love love love your blog. please dont stop posting. you are great!

i just found your blog and i love it! i’m hooked onto it.

for these mini cheesecakes, what kind of baking pan did you use??

anonymous – this makes about 48

anonymous – The mini foil-lined cups are thick enough to stand by themselves. So I just placed them all on a cookie sheet.

Hello! I just discovered your blog.. FANTASTIC! :) I was looking for a recipe like this for a while now and finally I’ve found it, my only question is that I was hoping to make mini caramel cheesecakes, not cherry; do you think it would work (and taste okay) if I would place one of those caramel chews (square) in the center, and top with caramel sauce? or would that be too much? Im hoping to make them for my boyfriend who Im going to visit in nine days :)!!
Megan

I haven’t worked with caramel, so I don’t know about the centers. But if your visiting in 9 days, that gives you eight to experiment. Good luck.

hi. i was wondering will the creamcheese be very soft and creamy after taking it out from the oven?
I cant seems to find alumnium baking cups around and was wondering if paper cups possible?

I haven’t tried it with the paper cups, so I can’t really say. But once they cool and are refrigerated they are firm like cheesecake.

I do think the aluminum is helpful, though.

I tried to make this as well and purchased the 2″ foil baking cups. They were much wider in dimension than the wafers. Perhaps it’s the 1.25″ cups that should be used instead? I ended up crumbling the wafers in large chunks, sprinkling them on the bottom, and then filling with the cream cheese mix. It made 24 mini cheesecakes in the 2″ cups. Just an FYI! (Delicious no matter what size though!)

Katie – I checked the package I use. It’s a reynolds brand foil cup and is 2″. They also make a 2.5″ so make sure it isn’t that one. The vanilla wafers fit perfectly.

From their website:

REYNOLDS® MINI SIZE BAKING CUPS
Mini Foil – 2″, 48/pkg

Oh my GOODNESS! I love your blog. My mother’s birthday is in about a week and I’ve been having a hard time figuring out what to make her. These mini cheesecakes will be perfect!

court – And they’re really yummy!

These would be so fun to give to friends! Quick question.. would the cream cheese be 8oz. each package or total?
Thanks!

2 pkgs. – 8 oz. each and they’re easy.

hello! i love your webbie!(:
im a year 2 culinary student in singapore. and i thought this is a very creative way to showacse your talent! :)
anw, is it possible to not use nilla wafers? we dont have them easily available in singapore( i’ve searched for a long long long time) and i woud like to not use graham crumbs for a change. any ideas?

I definitely bought the wrong size, so I actually just made them cupcake sized and crumbled up the Nila wafers, but my gosh these were yummy AND everyone including picky dh loved them! I even blogged about it and took a pic if you care to stop by :)

JOLYNN – what about oreo bottoms

Tanyia – these mini foil cups can be hard to find. But, I’m glad you made it work anyway.

Love them! I added a few mini
chips (butterscotch and toffee to
some – choco to others – before adding the cheesecake mixture. They
melt in the oven and make a delish
layer! Everyone loved them!

So how many “cakes” does this recipe make?

I used…regular paper cupcakes because I couldn’t find the foil ones – they worked out as well and didn’t spread too much. Couldn’t find the 2″ ones, in Canada they’re only listed as small, medium, large, jumbo. I used Jumbo (cuz that’s what I had in the house) but the medium ones will fit a wafer as well. Used brown sugar instead of white. Stupid easy to make and they taste amazing. Still trying to figure out how the batter makes 48 cupcakes though…I put in one tablespoon (granted, heaping but still) and ended up with 21 cupcakes…Was it maybe supposed to be 3 teaspoons of batter instead of 3 tablespoons?

how long do these need to be refrigerated?

shortyp333 – yum

cedens – 48 minis

Anonymous – hmmm. not sure. I’d have to make them again.

lainers – I keep them in the fridge. They’re cheesecakes.

I am just wondering what difference does it make when you mix it with egg or not? Thanks, Bakerella!

And can I also add like maybe some mascarpone cheese to make it richer? Your tips would be really helpful here. It’s gonna be my first time baking and I want it perfect for my wife :)

You need the eggs. I guess you could sub the mascarpone. But they are pretty good as is.

hello Bakerella :)
i spent my evening making these little cheesecakes, and they are baking right now while i am leaving this comment for you.

the batter tasted good, haha! my sister nearly ate the whole thing until i reminded her there was raw egg in it.

i’ll let you know how it turns out, thank you so much for the recipe!

my little cheesecakes came out a little too sour, the lemon taste just kicks you when you bite into it :( i might have ate a little more than a tablespoon of lemon juice.
i’m not very fond of it, but my sister likes it (or maybe she’s just trying to be nice).

oh well, i’m going to try again soon :) this time with less lemon juice.

angel – I hate that because they are so good. Try again with less juice.

Did you add the fruit topping? That probably helps counter any lingering l.j. taste.

i added a little bit of honey on top of it, so it wouldn’t taste so sour. now i personally think honey and cheesecakes are not the best combination :(

i didn’t add the fruit toppings. i will def try it with less lemon juice next time and fruits on top.

i love your recipes :) easy stuff for a busy college student!

If you find the lemon taste too strong, just add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Also, I found that the 100-calorie pack of graham crackers or 100-calorie pack of oreo cookies allows you to put more cheesecake filling in each mini muffin tin. On the graham cracker cheesecakes, I put a couple of cherries from the pie filling. On the oreo cheesecakes, I put chocolate-covered strawberries. They both look great.

I love using Lorna Doones for the crusts on mini-cheesecakes too. I know they are square, so kind of the wrong shape, but I haven’t had any issues with that. The cookies keep a bit of their crispiness without getting soggy and the shortbread taste is SUCH a compliment to any cheesecake flavor!

Hi Bakerella!! I tried these really yummy treats but since i couldnt find the waffers i made them with regular cheesecake crust and they turned out delicious! Thank you so much for posting these wonderful recipes with awsome pictures!

Lots of love from Dominican Republic

I've never made any type of cheesecake before, but these look so yummy, I'm going to try.
One question I have is, can you freeze the cheesecakes once they're cooked and set (without the topping)? Or does freezing ruin it?

I've tried these yesterday and they came out great!
I only used crumbled cookies with some butter because i couldn't find cookies that fit my bakingcups.
I used cherrypie filling voor half and lemoncurd on the other half.
Both tasted delicious!

Cat – I haven't had a need to freeze them. They will last in the refrigerator for several days.

I tried making these for a baby shower and failed miserably! They filling turned into a chunky mess when I mixed everything together. Was semi-hopeful that it would still bake up well, but no such luck.

Any tips on how to avoid this?

It sounds like your cream cheese had not reached room temperature before you started mixing.

Hi i love this idea i’m going to this for family any tips before i start this lovely idea!!!!!!!!

Is there any way to make these not mini? Like any bottom substitute or any kind of cookie/vanilla wafer or anything that would fit a normal sized muffin cup? And how much cream cheese would I need to put in then, if I tried using a normal sized one? Thank you!

Please help! I am planning on making these for my 1 year anniversary with my boyfriend this Oct. 28, and I have a perfect cupcake stand I just bought, but it’s only for regular sized cupcakes/muffins. Can you please tell me the ingredients I would need for this recipe to make regular sized cupcakes instead of mini? Please, this would be absolutely perfect and very helpful for me, I’ve been planning this for a while now but didn’t think about the difference in the amount of ingredients up until a couple of days ago. Thank you!<3

hmmm…made these, and it sounded delish, but I let my cream cheese sit at room temperature for at least an hour, and it still turned out chunky, like Jessica in comment 44 said. I am super-hungry for cheesecake and will have to try these again, since it just turned out like a bunch of little cream cheese chunks floating in an eggy, vanilla souflee! :-) Ha! But then again, this is my first cheesecake; when I make it soon, I’ll try and let you know if I improved! :-) Thanks for the simple recipe!

Update! :-) Tried a different recipe, today, off the crushed graham cracker box, and it worked quite well. This time, I melted the cream cheese and beat it until it was fluffy, before adding the suger and vanilla, and mixing well, then adding the egg (one at a time) and beating well, then adding the sour cream in the recipe. Turned out great; my only regret? I halved the original recipe, but cooked it as long as the whole recipe required. Opps. :-) Still tastes like cheescake though; I guess it’s a learning process!

nice work what the round thing is it a cake in the second picture ?

Hi bakerella,
tried these over the weekend..was a definite hit..even amongst the non-cheese lovers..1 thing though, when the cakes came out of the oven, the middle of every little cakes sunk..was it suppose to happen this way??

My mom has made this (regular cupcake sized) for as long as I can remember. They are delicious! In her version, she adds a dollop of sour cream beneath the cherries. It’s a pretty, tangy addition.

Thank a lot

Just found your blog. You are ridiculously creative. Love it all. Here is a link to a website that sells the mini foil liners you use. In case people are still having trouble finding them.

http://www.shopbakersnook.com/m5_view_item.html?m5:item=6091#

I have to make these for my husband! Cheesecake is his favorite and I really think he will love these. I’ve tried your cake ball recipe and he loved those too. Thanks so much for the great ideas!

I just made this ones and OMG they are delicious!! thank you sooo much for the great recipes and inspiration!!
I (like many others) couldn’t find the 2″ mini foil liners, the only had large and jumbo size (whatever that means) so I bought the large ones and I crumble the nilla wafers and mixed them with melted butter and made a traditional crusting, put it at the bottom of the liners, squeeze with spoon so it would settle and add the cheesecake mix. They turned out GREAT! everybody loved them.
Thanks!!!

I have recently tried this recipie and it worked marvelously! I am next going to use an oreo cookie bottom for the crust and sprinkle some crushed cookie on top!

I can’t wait to make these! They would be great for parties and get-togethers! I love cheesecake…YUM!!!!

The problem is the wafers come in different sizes so thats why they dont fit in the 2 inch foil liners. I buy the mini vanilla wafers and they fit in. The regular vanilla wafers do not fit in the 2 inch cupcake foil liners. I have been using the 2 inch foil cupcake liners for years and know the problem well with the regular wafers being too large. Also 2 different brand wafers are different sizes also. Hope this helps.

I just tried making these and so far, so good.
However, your comment about how they make 48 bothers me because I followed the recipe and I could only make 12.
Other than that, thanks for sharing a quick and delicious dessert recipe!

Currently making the cheesecake bites minus the cherry filling… I couldn’t find the 2in foil cupcake sheets either but I did find the 2 1/2 in ones and I just placed the vanilla wafer inside and shaped the foil sheet around it to make it smaller… On top of it all my oven isn’t working so I am currently baking it in my toaster oven!

:)

Well, I scoured the town and found no 2 inch foil liners, so I went with 2 1/2 inch. Since the vanilla wafers were too small, I twisted apart some Oreo-style vanilla sandwich cookies. They fit the 2 1/2 liners pretty well and made a yummy vanilla crust. My ten year old was happy to “dispose” of the cream middles for me. :)

This combination made 20 cheesecakes that needed 25-30 minutes to cook in my oven (your mileage may vary). Now I can’t wait to try this with chocolate sandwich cookies!

Thank you for another wonderful recipe. I have decided to whip up a few of these in a larger size for thanksgiving. Pumpkin cheese cakes of course. Possible with a caramel pecan topping.

I also think it’s wonderful you still answer folks’ recipe questions months after you posted the recipe. It’s true – cakes = love.

I am making these for a party this Saturday, but I have lots of stuff to make and bring. I am trying to plan ahead and was wondering how early can I make these and store them in my fridge? Will they still be as tasty if I make them 3-4 days before the party or should I make them the night before?

oh my god that looks sooo awesome!! those look great and simple [which is good for me]
=)
**2 thumbs up**

Thanks for this recipe, Bakerella! This was the first recipe of yours that I decided to man-up and try, and it turned out GREAT!

I used paper cups however, but made sure to use about 2 of them for each cup to make sure they’d hold their shape on the pan. I did also have to bake them for another 6 minutes or so, but that’s only because I like ‘em firm.

Used blueberry and cherry filling for the tops – friends ate them up, and I was impressed that such a great tasting dessert could come from such a simple no-botch recipe!

Thanks again and keep up the good work! :-)

the sugar is in powder or granulated normal sugar? thanks….

What a fab blog…. I’m about to embark on a marathon baking session with your recipes! Thank you..!!

amazing… i absolutely love these seeing as i love all things cheesecake…i actually love all things cake if im honest!! i live in the uk and have a pretty hard time finding these vanilla wafers does anyone know of a substitute??? xxx thank you xxx

Ok, I have a BIG party tomorrow and have been stressing over the REYNOLDS® MINI SIZE BAKING CUPS
Mini Foil – 2?, 48/pkg ! I can’t find them anywhere and I have searched within 100 mile radius!!!! I’m going to try to crumble the wafers like several people did…WISH ME LUCK!

I just made these for my boyfriend because it’s his birthday and he loves cheesecake.
Well, they are AMAZING! I couldn’t resist and had one myself. They’re absolutely adorable and easy to make.
I never bake and this is my first time making cheesecake, but these came out perfect. Thank you so much for this lovely recipe, I hope he likes them!

The only problem I encountered was like everyone else I couldn’t find 2″ tins, and the cookies were too small to fit into them properly. I just crushed them up and mixed them with butter in the food processor and they were good to go.

My batch just came out of the oven!! I’m so sad because I think I overbaked them. I decided to bake them an extra “6 mins” as a post above said, but probably because mine were smaller, they’re all stiff… :( I hope they still turn out okay after I cool them. As for the cupcake sleeves, I dont know what size I used, just some I found at home (i think they’re about 1.5″ or so), but I was able to make about 35 cupcakes.. I used the graham cracker crust you provided for the original cheesecake, and that gave me about 40 crusts, so I have a few extra cupcake crusts… Oh wells, thats my fave part anyways! :)

Great recipe otherwise. oh and I used about 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, and it wasn’t too sour, nor too sweet.

Hi bakerella.
I was wondering, if i wanted to make regular sized cheesecake cupcakes, then how much batter/cheese do i put in the cups? how much should i put until the edge of the cups?

Thank you for this recipe! I am planning a 66th birthday party for my dad this weekend and wanted to have something besides the cake. I was thinking of having chocolate fondue, but with almost 40 guest, my fondue pot is just too small. I am going to make these instead and just can’t wait! The party is on Saturday night, but if I make them on Friday morning will they still be OK?

Thanks a bunch!

HI Bakerella, I am starting my own blog and I am going to make these yummy little things today… I am also posting them on my blog with credit to you. I was wonderinf if it would be ok for me to use the picture at the top of them in my blog? Thanks

Hi Bakerella,

I just wanted to say thank you. I only ever really bake as a hobby, and I’ve been too busy to do anything lately, but after seeing these, I cannot not make them. I’m also going to make the Mini Cherry Cutie Pies and the Pie Pops. Thanks for the cool motivation!

Hi there,

I want to make these and wanted to know what the “shelf” life is for them? It’s Saturday and I have an event on Monday evening. I am trying to get a jumpstart but wondered if I didn’t top them yet, would they still taste great in the fridge? ..or should I wait?? LOVE your site!!

I loved these. I made them last night. I made my own strawberry sauce. You should try it.
Put 10 strawberries, a little splash of milk, two Tbsp. of sugar, and 1 1/2 Tbsp. of strawberry jelly in a blender and bland for about 8 to 10 seconds. Then add three more large strawberries and blend for 2-3 seconds.
It’s soooo good. Put the strawberry sauce on top of them and then add a tiny slice of strawberry for looks.. Super yummy.

r’nt theese cute

I think I will be making these next week for our Scrapbooking night at my house! MMMMM what a wonderfully easy and yummy treat! Thank you!
~Sandy

i was wondering for the cream cheese, what do you mean by 2 package ( 8oz)? does that mean 2 package of 8 oz or 1 package of 8 oz? and also i tried to make a smaller mixes because i dont need 42 mini cheesecake and it turned out horrible.

thank you for this yummy recipe! i used mini vanilla wafers in my mini muffin pan and they turned out fantastic! for the record, for me your recipe made more than 72 bite-sized cheesecakes. :D

HI! I’ve been making these for years with a slightly modified recipe and cant’t wait to try this one out. The past few times I have made them though my nilla wafers have floated to the top mid baking! AHHH! Have you had this problem at all?

hey I love your creations and they are simply awe-spiring! just wondering, does the ‘vanilla’ refer to vanilla essence? and did you buy the cherry pie filling or you made it yourself?(:

I just wanted to let you know that I first made these a few months ago, and my husband not only remembered them, but requested them out of the blue one day. They turned out great both times for us. I love your recipes. :)

I have the 2 inch foil liners but the vanilla wafers are too big…..there are 2 different brands of wafers, which one are u using??? thanks

Hey! I love this recipe and can’t wait to try it :) I referenced it on my website and linked the recipe back to you also!! Your website is AMAZING and the goodies all look delicious!

These are so cute (what else is new?) I just love mini things because I usually bake for large groups of people and more people eat my creations when they’re small. I guess its because they look less fattening.

Hello Bakerella
My brothers and I are doing a Easter Dinner for our family.
We are going to do a Dessert Bar and i would like to make the individual cheesecake can they be made a day or two ahead of time and the liner remove before putting the filling on top and wrap and storage until Sunday,
thank you
tammy

just found your site. looking for things to make when i cook at youth camp for 60 teenagers (gasp!!). plan to make the oreo balls (oreo & nutter butter). interested in the mini cherry cheesecake bites but it doesn’t say how many it makes. do you remember? also, i tried the cake balls but had trouble with the cake flaking into the almond bark. they tasted good but were not very pretty. plus my almond bark kept getting too cool (i was using small quantity at a time to try to prevent this) and eventually seized up on me! suggestions?

well, i feel like an idiot! i just read the recipe for the 3rd time & saw where it says 4 dozen. sheesh……. : )

I’ve made these before and the wafers floated up? What did I do wrong?

Instead of using sugar I use sweet condensced milk. It’s delicious, but I’m wondering if the nilla waffers floated up because this recepie may be more liquidy than yours. I’m making this for a party this Sat. Please help!

made these but instead of just nilla wafer crusts, I crumbled the nilla wafers and mixed them with melted butter until it made a graham cracker crust consistency. DELICIOUS and EASY!

http://greathomeimprovementtips.com

I am desperate to make these for my Mother In-Law’s birthday but i can’t buy the vanilla wafers in the UK. What can you suggest i use instead?
I think you are an absolute legend by the way, always inspiring me to get my bake on!
Thank you.