These tasty Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes have a gingersnap cookie crust topped by a pumpkin pie-flavored filling. They’re perfect for a two-bite treat or to serve on an autumnal dessert buffet.

Whether it is Thanksgiving and a Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake sounds more enticing than ordinary pumpkin pie or you just have a hankering for a new pumpkin dessert, you’ll enjoy this recipe.

3 mini pumpkin cheesecakes on a white tray with ginger cookies in the background.

Why You Must Make

  • Mini cheesecakes are fun! You can make them in a mini muffin pan.
  • You’ll feel less guilty indulging and can even go back for seconds!
  • If you’re hosting or bringing a dish to someone else’s gathering, these will be a hit.

I first made these at least a decade ago. I was weeding through some old posts and deleted the recipe since it was sparse on content. But then a nice reader of my blog noticed it was gone. She had it bookmarked and had been making these minis for years. Well, that was enough for me to get out the mixing bowls and make another batch!

Labeled ingredients for pumpkin cheesecakes on a metal sheet pan.

Ingredient Notes

  • Kitchen Staples – Butter, Cinnamon, Eggs, Sugar
  • Archway Gingersnap Cookies – These are crushed to make the crusts.
  • Cream Cheese – Have this and the eggs at room temperature for easier incorporation and for the smoothest cheesecake.
  • Vanilla – Make sure it’s real vanilla extract, not artificially flavored.
  • Maple Syrup – Don’t use Log Cabin or other artificially flavored syrups. Look for real maple syrup for the best, most natural flavor.
  • Ginger, Nutmeg – Spices can lose their potency over time. If yours have been around for a decade, it’s time to replace them.
  • Pumpkin Puree – This is pure pumpkin, not the canned pumpkin pie filling.
  • White Chocolate – I use Ghirardelli bars.
  • Heavy Cream – 36% butterfat.

How to Make

  1. Preheat the oven and put paper liners in your mini muffin tin.
  2. Mix together the crust ingredients, add a teaspoon to each liner and tamp to make a crust. Set aside.
  3. Put 1 teaspoon of crumbs into the bottom of each muffin tin. Tamp down to make the bottom crusts. Set aside.
  4. Make the filling using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
  5. Spoon filling into the tin and bake as directed. Cool completely.
  6. Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely
  7. Make the ganache and add a spoonful to each mini cheesecake. Garnish as desired.

Expert Tips

  • Instead of the typical graham crackers in the crust, I bought a bag of gingersnaps and crushed them for some extra zing. Pumpkin and ginger are a match made in heaven!
  • PRO-Tip: If you don’t have a stand mixer, just mix the filling slowly with a hand mixer. The goal is not to whip air into the batter so the cheesecake is nice and dense.
  • I love the contrast of white chocolate with the orange pumpkin cheesecake, so I topped these all with a round of ganache and then topped with a pecan half. Candied pecans would also be tasty. I’ve also used candy corn and candy mallow pumpkins leftover from Halloween.
  • The toppings are great at disguising imperfections and making a more elegant presentation.
  • To serve, place the cheesecake in its wrapper into a second wrapper. The butter in the crust often leaves oil spots on the first wrapper, so it looks nicer with two.
3 mini pumpkin cheesecakes on a square white plate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Use Fresh Pumpkin?

Yes, but make sure it’s the same consistency as canned pumpkin so the batter won’t be too thin or too thick.

How Do You Know When Mini Cheesecakes Are Done?

They will look firm across the top. With a full-sized cheesecake, it’s good to have the center jiggle a bit when you pull it out of the oven. But with mini cheesecakes, a jiggle indicates they need more time.

How Do You Store Mini Cheesecakes?

Store your mini cheesecakes covered in the refrigerator. But to serve, bring them out about an hour before you’re ready to plate them. They’ll taste best closer to room temperature.

You May Also Like

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Mini pumpkin cheesecakes on a white ceramic tray.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Additional Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes
Yield 24

These tasty Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes have a gingersnap cookie crust topped by a pumpkin pie-flavored filling. They're perfect for a two-bite treat or to serve on an autumnal dessert buffet.

Ingredients

Crust:

  • 12 ounce bag Archway gingersnap cookies, processed into crumbs
  • ½ cup butter, melted

Filling:

  • 4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 4 eggs, at room temperature
  • Optional garnishes:
  • White chocolate ganache (6 ounces chopped white chocolate melted with ¼ cup cream)
  • Candied pecans
  • Crystallized ginger
  • Candy corn

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325º.Line mini muffin tins with muffin papers. Set aside.
  2. Mix together gingersnap crumbs and melted butter, till well incorporated.
  3. Put 1 teaspoon of crumbs into the bottom of each muffin tin. Tamp down to make bottom crust. Set aside.
  4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar till smooth.
  5. Add vanilla, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and pumpkin puree and beat till incorporated, scraping the bowl with a spatula as needed.
  6. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing just till incorporated.
  7. Spoon filling into prepared mini-muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes.
  8. Remove to cooling rack to cool completely
  9. .When cool, may top with a round of white chocolate ganache, then a pecan half, piece of crystallized ginger or a candy pumpkin, if desired.

Notes

Having the cream cheese and eggs at room temperature make for easier incorporation into the batter, plus a creamier cheesecake.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

24

Serving Size:

2

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 440Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 80mgSodium: 248mgCarbohydrates: 59gFiber: 1gSugar: 46gProtein: 5g

Thatskinnychickcanbake.com occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although thatskinnychickcanbake.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe. Also, many recipes on thatskinnychickcanbake.com recommend toppings, which may or may not be listed as optional and nutritional information for these added toppings is not listed. Other factors may change the nutritional information such as when the salt amount is listed “to taste,” it is not calculated into the recipe as the amount will vary. Also, different online calculators can provide different results. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.

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My Celebrity Chef Debut

My friend and fellow blogger, Kate of Kate’s Kitchen, sent me an email asking if I wanted to be a “Celebrity” chef at a benefit to raise funds for folks with developmental disabilities. Huh? I guess I could fake the celebrity status with a confident attitude, right? How could I say no? The last 4 weeks have been crazy…flying to Iowa, moving my sick and elderly parents 800 miles to Denver in an RV, flying home, flying to Seattle for a food bloggers conference, flying back to Denver when my dad was admitted to the ICU…ugh. Enough already. I needed 75 servings of a dessert, so instead of putting on my creative cap, I went with a simple fall classic…Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes.