The Best Mini Crème Brûlée Cheesecakes
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Today, we’re combining two of the best desserts into one. These mini crème brûlée cheesecakes are ridiculously creamy, studded with vanilla bean, and topped with a crackly sugared crust. And they’re so much easier than a full cheesecake! You don’t need a water bath, springform pan, or even a kitchen torch. Save these for holidays, dinner parties, or date night at home!
Here is a definitive list of things I’m not doing in the final weeks of 2025. 1. Wearing anything that needs to be dry cleaned. 2. Cardio, absolutlely not. And 3. Making anything in a water bath.
“But Sara, doesn’t that take both cheesecake and crème brûlée out of the running?” You’d think so, but NOPE. Thanks to some tricks I learned when I was in pastry school, these cheesecakes require no water bath whatsoever. Yay!
Anyways, if you’ve been here a while, you probably know that I am a custard GIRL. Both my coffee crème brûlée and this orange cardamom crème brûlée have gone viral on the gram. But today, we’re combining it with another fan fave, mini cheesecakes.
These little cakes have a buttery graham cracker crust, vanilla bean studded-filling, and that classic toffee topping. I’m obsessed, and I think you’ll be too!
Ingredients you’ll need
The best part of this recipe is that the ingredient list is super basic. For the filling, all you need is unsalted butter, granulated sugar, cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla bean paste or extract, and eggs. To make the crust, grab some more butter and sugar, plus graham crackers.
Also, I like to use superfine sugar for the topping because it browns more evenly. But of course, granulated works too!
Graham cracker crust
Vanilla bean filling
Brûlée the tops
Try to spread the sugar as evenly as possible for even browning. As you can see, I like the sugar to be a little darker, but you can go more golden-brown if you like. 🙂
Cupcake pan
If you don’t have a mini cheesecakes pan, you can also use a regular cupcake pan! Just make sure to line the cups with paper cupcake liners. And, since the cups are smaller, you’ll probably end up with closer to 18 cheesecakes.
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Amazing Mini Crème Brûlée Cheesecakes (No Water Bath!)
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 10 full graham cracker sheets
- 50 grams granulated sugar (1/4 cup)
- 90 grams unsalted butter, melted & cooled (6 Tablespoons)
Vanilla Cheesecake Filling
- 28 grams unsalted butter, softened (2 Tablespoons)
- 130 grams granulated sugar (2/3 cup)
- 454 grams full-fat cream cheese, softened (16 ounces)
- 150 grams full-fat sour cream, room temperature (2/3 cup)
- 15 milliliters vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract (1 Tablespoon)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 50 grams superfine sugar or more granulated sugar, for topping (1/4 cup)
Equipment
- Food processor or rolling pin
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- Mini cheesecake pan or standard cupcake pan with paper liners
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C). If you're using a cupcake pan, line the cups with paper liners. (See the Recipe Notes for more details on using a cupcake pan.)
- Add the graham crackers to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until you have about 150 grams (1 1/2 cups) of semi-fine crumbs. Add the sugar and melted butter, and blend the mixture until the graham crackers are finely ground and you have a thick dough.
- Divide the graham cracker mixture into the mini cheesecake cups, about 2 Tablespoons per cup (or 1 1/2 Tablespoons per cupcake liner). Then, using a pastry tamper or the handle of a wooden spoon, press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the cups. Bake for 5-6 minutes, until the crusts are toasty and light golden-brown. Cool completely.
Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Filling
- Fill an oven-safe pan with a few inches of water. Set aside.
- Add the butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl. Then, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together. The mixture will be grainy. Add the cream cheese and beat until it's light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Mix in the sour cream and vanilla bean paste. Add the eggs and mix just until the filling is well-combined.
- Using a #20 cookie scoop, evenly divide the filling between the cooled crusts, about 3 Tablespoons per cup (or 2 Tablespoons per cupcake liner). Use a butter knife or small rubber spatula to smooth the filling evenly over the crusts, making sure it gets into all the nooks and crannies.
- Place the mini cheesecake pan (or cupcake pan) on the middle rack of the oven and set the pan of water on the rack under the mini cheesecakes. Bake at 325°F (163°C) for 15-17 minutes, or until the edges are set and the centers are still a bit wobbly (like Jell-O). If they're not done after 17 minutes, bake them for another 1-2 minutes.
- Once the cheesecakes are baked, turn off the oven and crack the oven door. Let the mini cheesecakes cool for 1 hour in the oven to keep the tops from cracking. Then, cover the pan and refrigerate the cheesecakes for another 3-4 hours or until the filling is completely set.
Brûléed Topping
- When you're ready to serve, gently remove the cheesecakes from the pan and place them on a sheet pan. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of superfine or granulated sugar over the top of each cake. Gently tap the pan to evenly distribute the sugar.
- Use a kitchen torch to brûlée the sugar until it's melted and caramelized to your desired doneness. (I like a deeper golden-brown personally.) Serve immediately and enjoy!
