Mini Cheesecakes With Apricot Jam

This mini cheesecake recipe couldn’t be simpler to make or more delicious. We use thin, crushable chocolate wafer cookies as the base of the crust and it bakes up tender and buttery. You’ll make an easy filling with cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla, which requires only a few minutes of beating before it’s ready to be spooned into individual muffin cups. As with other cheesecake recipes, these minis need to chill for a few hours so the texture can go from soft and jiggly to creamy and perfectly firm. They're finished with an easy apricot topping, but you can swap in another jam if you prefer. Make them for a picnic, potluck, or birthday party—and watch them disappear fast.

Equipment Needs (and Swaps) for Mini Cheesecakes

Muffin tins: This recipe makes 18 mini cheesecakes, so you'll need two standard-size muffin tins when baking. If you only have one tin, you can use small ramekins for the remaining crust and filling, or bake them in two batches. For easy removal and serving, be sure to line each cup with a paper muffin-cup liner.

Rolling pin: Use a rolling pin and resealable plastic bag to crush the thin chocolate cookies into crumbs for the crust. (This is a fun activity to get kids involved in the kitchen!) You can also use a food processor to crush the cookies if you'd prefer.

Electric mixer: We use an electric mixer—stand or hand-held—to blend the cream cheese, eggs, and sour cream together for the filling. If you don't have one, you can use a food processor instead, or even blend the ingredients by hand with a whisk, just be sure that your cream cheese is fully softened first to make mixing as easy as possible.

Fine-mesh strainer: You'll need a fine-mesh sieve to stain the jam once it's warm and runny. This helps remove any chunks, giving you a smooth, glaze-like topping that looks gorgeous when spooned on top of the cheesecakes. No sieve? No problem—you can strain the jam through a double layer of cheesecloth instead.