Back in the groove! Pumpkin is definitely pulling into the lead against apple in the “easier” recipe department after the lengthy process to make Homemade Apple Pie. I made pumpkin pie mini cheesecakes last night and OMG they were so easy. And tasty, too—a clear winner in my book. Is there anything more fitting for National Pumpkin Day???
So How Easy Was It?
The entire process took me less than 40 minutes. Wow! That NEVER happens. And I had all the ingredients in the house, so I didn’t even need to go to the store to get anything. Definitely a huge bonus as far as I’m concerned.
First I preheated the oven to 325 before I made the crumb crust for the bottom. I doubled the original recipe because I like a lot of crumb and I didn’t feel like the original recipe yielded enough crumb crust per mini cheesecake.
It’s so simple—mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and salt and voila! Fill a muffin pan with muffin liners and scoop approximately 1 1/2 TBSP of the crumb mixture into each liner and pack it down. I finally found a use for this “muddler” that Hubby brought in some cooking store awhile back: 
I baked these for 5 minutes while I made the pumpkin pie mini cheesecake filling.
Yes, It’s That Quick to Make These Pumpkin Pie Mini Cheesecakes
I think it might take longer to say “Pumpkin Pie Mini Cheesecakes” than it does to make them. Okay, maybe that’s slight exaggeration…
Combine pumpkin puree, cream cheese, sour cream, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin spice, and cloves in a medium bowl. Beat on high until smooth. ***Tip: Make sure the cream cheese is room temperature—makes it easier to mix. 
Remove muffin cups from oven and spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling all the way. Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until the pumpkin pie mixture sets. (They will be kind of spongy on top when you poke them.)
Remove the muffin pan from the oven and top with whip cream. I took them out of the muffin wrappers, but you can leave them in to hold them together. A couple fell apart when I did this—the dog welcomed an extra treat. After all the pumpkin cupcakes he had the other day and what misery it wrecked on his intestines, you would think he wouldn’t want to see anything with pumpkin again. No one ever accused him of being smart, though…
Sprinkle cinnamon on top of the pumpkin pie mini cheesecakes to make them look a little fancy: 
And seriously, THAT’S it. There is nothing more to this recipe than to enjoy!
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 4 TBSP unsalted butter
- 8 oz softened cream cheese
- 2 TBSP sour cream