Mini desserts are the perfect-sized treats. You can satisfy your sweet tooth and not feel guilty that you may have served yourself too much of your desired dessert. For today’s pumpkin recipe I am bringing you a Mini Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake. And the title says it all, you have pumpkin, cream cheese and a hint of coffee. I made a few slight changes to the original recipe to use up items I currently had in my pantry… Instead of speculoos cookies (a spiced shortbread cookie) I used graham crackers and instead of regular instant coffee I used Bustelo Instant Espresso. While I am not a coffee drinker, I always have this in my pantry to make tiramisu and to make coffee to use in lieu of water for box chocolate cake mix. If you didn’t know, coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate cake.
To begin I made the crust. After rolling graham crackers with a rolling pin to make crumbs, I combined them with sugar. I then placed a tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of cupcake liners I placed in a muffin tin.
Next, after making the cheesecake batter, I spooned about 1/4 cup of the batter over the graham cracker crumb mixture.
I then baked the cheesecakes in a 325 F preheated oven for about 30 minutes. I ended up leaving the cheesecakes in the oven for a minute or two too long and they ended up cracking on top…
But once they cooled the cheesecakes deflated a bit and the cracks were gone. After letting them cool in the pan for a few minutes I removed them and transferred them to a wire rack to cool completely before refrigerating them.
I ended up leaving them in the refrigerator for about a day before topping them with a dollop of homemade whipped cream and sprinkling them with pumpkin pie spice.
Final verdict… YUM!!! They were super creamy and overbaking them had no effect on the texture whatsoever. The combination of coffee and pumpkin is delicious and the dollop of whipped cream on top was the perfect topping.
Looking for another recipe that combines coffee and pumpkin? Then check out my Pumpkin Tiramisu recipe from a few years ago.
Mini Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecakes
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (12 graham crackers)
3/4 plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 8oz. packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin spice, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon instant coffee
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Directions:
Heat oven to 325 F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners.
Combine the graham cracker crumbs and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Add 1 tablespoon of the mixture to the bottom of each of the cupcake liners.
In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and the remaining 3/4 cup sugar with a hand mixer on medium until well blended. Add the pumpkin, 2 teaspoons of the pumpkin spice and vanilla extract, mix well. Add the eggs 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition. Mix until just blended. Stir in the coffee granules until completely dissolved. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the cheesecake batter over the graham cracker crust.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the centers are just set. Cool completely and then refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Beat the whipping cream and confectioners’ sugar together until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large piping tip and pipe the whipped cream over the cheesecakes. Sprinkle with the remaining pumpkin spice.
Recipe slightly modified from Kraft Foods
Bead Yarn & Spatula 
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