Caramel cupcake cheesecakes
on Dec 18, 2014, Updated Nov 23, 2022
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This past weekend, during a mini weekend adventure to York (= stunning northern English city with jaw-dropping ancient things to see!), Mr. Scrummy and I were taken to a buffet-style restaurant – the kind where you pay a certain amount of money and help yourself to whatever starters, mains and desserts you like. Now I don’t think this kind of set-up is so common over here in the UK, so it felt like a bit of a novelty, to be honest. So, with wide eyes and slightly child-like enthusiasm, we all hurried eagerly up and down the aisles taking a little bit of this and a little bit of that. By the time we got back to our tables, our plates were piled slightly too high and with things that should really never be seen on a plate together (onion bhajis with roast meat and gravy, Thai green curry and mixed bean salad … that kind of thing).
The food available at this buffet was certainly not bad, but not exceptional by any means. But I still found myself feeling a bit anxious not to miss out on anything good! I took tiny amounts of each dish in my quest to avoid this, but alas couldn’t fit a bit of everything on there (or in my stomach, more to the point)!
Now we all know this kind of thing is only going to keep on happening all over Christmas (there are the little hanging chocolate santas on my Christmas tree, the posh chocolate biscuits in a box on top of my kitchen cupboards, mulled wine on the counter all vying for attention … where to start?) So, I’ve decided that there’s only one solution to this …
MINI versions of yummy Christmasy things! This way you can have your cake … and eat other types of cake, too, without getting super full super quick, feeling like a total piggy and, most importantly, missing out on all the other scrummy things.
Cue these mini caramel cupcake cheesecakes – perfect for taking along to parties where you know there are going to be other desserts, too. Or even for serving at a dinner party. I served these at a family dinner a few weeks ago and they went down extremely well after a relatively heavy main course. So well in fact that I’ve been ‘commissioned’ to make them again for Christmas.
The finished cuties not only end up pretty good looking, in my humble opinion, but they’re also really easy to make with fairly few ingredients (now there’s a surprise …) All you do is press biscuit crumbs and melted butter into muffin cases and bake for 10 minutes, mix up your cheesecake mixture and spoon into the cases, then drop tiny bits of caramel into the mixture (most of it will sink, which means that when you bite into your cheesecake caramel oozes out of the middle … mmmm!) Finally, I topped my cheesecakes with a little more caramel just to make it extra delicious. I used ready-made caramel (if you’re in the UK, I used the Carnation ready-made caramel – usually found next to the condensed milk. This worked fine even though I was actually looking for something like dulce de leche, which I just couldn’t find).
I reckon these cupcake cheesecakes would be pretty easily customisable. You could drop chocolate or raspberry sauce (or maybe even fresh raspberries) into the cheesecake mixture instead of caramel if you like.
Whatever flavour you decide on, these little cupcake cheesecakes are sure to get plenty of oohs and ahhhs … and leave plenty of space in that expanding tummy of yours to try something else! Definitely a win-win Christmas situation!
Caramel cupcake cheesecakes
Ingredients
- 8 digestive biscuits, crushed (I used my food processor – you can use graham crackers instead if you like)
- 3.5 tablespoons butter, melted
- 10.5 ounces cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon plain flour
- 1/4 cup caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
- 3 tablespoons sour cream
- ready-made caramel
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line a muffin tin with 8 regular muffin cases.
- Stir the biscuit crumbs into the melted butter, combine well then press into the bottom of the muffin cases. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Now make the cheesecake filling. Beat together the cream cheese, flour, sugar, vanilla, eggs and sour cream until smooth.
- Use a ladle to divide the mixture between the 8 muffin cases. Quickly drop tiny amounts of caramel into each case (no more than a small teaspoon in each), then bake for about 20 minutes (or until the cheesecake is set but still slightly wobbly).
- Let the cheesecakes cool for about half an hour, then add another small teaspoon of caramel to the top of each. Finally, chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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I love mini desserts! That way you can totally try some of everything! 🙂 These little cheesecakes sound so good! And with caramel?? Yeah, I don’t think I could turn one of these down!
Glad you’re impressed Ashley! Have a wonderful holiday!
What an awesome, creative idea! I love caramel and am sure I’ll like these! Can’t wait to try them! I like the mini portions, hopefully they will prevent over eating these cuties! Pinned!
Hello Mira! So happy I managed to impress you with these and I do hope you try them. They’re delicious!
Hi Helen, another holidays winner, love little bites of things, especially things like this!
Thanks so much, Cheri! Merry Christmas!!
I love York and these cheesecakes are stunning. I want to make them.
It’s my favourite place!! Could live there! So glad you like the cheesecakes 😉
Oh dear God! Mini cheesecakes with a caramel topping…I’m in heaven! I appreciate that you made them mini – with all of the food that goes around during the holidays, it’s nice to be able to enjoy a dessert without feeling like you’ve over dosed on it! Of course, by the looks and sound of this dessert, I’d probably eat a ton of these anyway!
Ah-hem … yes, who am I kidding? I suppose some people might have enough self control to have just one, though! 😉
I love your mini cheesecakes with caramel sauce….my favorite! I agree, little cheesecakes are such a nice dessert for an elegant dinner party or holidays. People always love them! I would just LOVE these. Pinned. 🙂
Thanks so much for pinning, Marcie! Glad you like them! 🙂
I am all for mini versions of desserts. It means I can have lots of little ones, as they are all small haha.
This looks so, so good.
I think a bit of everything at Christmas is pretty much obligatory! Glad you like these, Dannii!
For as elegant as these look they don’t look too difficult to make! No wonder you were asked to make again. Caramel is the best and I’m tempted to throw a few heath bar (toffee bits if you don’t have those) on top to really splurge =) Have a great weekend!
Ooh Laura, the toffee bits on top sound like a wonderful idea … I’ll do that when I make these again! Hope you have a great weekend, too!
I so agree with your philosophy, Helen! Mini versions of holiday desserts means that you can indulge in more varieties of sweets. Yes! Caramel and cheesecake are some of my favorites, so I’m thrilled that you’ve combined them both. And they’re mini, of course, so that means I can save room for all of the cookies/cakes/holiday beverages that are sure to grace the dessert table. Yesss! 🙂
My sentiments exactly!! Have a great weekend, Alyssa!
They’re so cute and pretty! I’m so impressed about how easy they are too Helen 🙂 And bonus, I have those liners too! 😀
Haha … I got those from Coles a while back! Great Aussie muffin-liners! 🙂