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These fuss-free gluten-free mini cheesecakes are perfect for parties or potlucks and couldn’t be any easier to make!
I really love cheesecake. Like really love it. But you won’t find a single recipe for a full-sized cheesecake on my blog because I rarely find myself with a reason to make 16 servings of cheesecake.
If I made a cheesecake without a real purpose or some place to send it, I’d eat a copious amount, get sad and then make something else to help me get over my grief. It’s a vicious cycle. With these gluten-free mini cheesecakes, you get everything you could want from a cheesecake but with built-in portion control! Eat one or two and freeze the rest.
The other reason I don’t make full cheesecakes is that it’s just so much more fussy than making mini cheesecakes! You don’t need to worry about water baths, cracks in the filling or refrigerating the cheesecake overnight. I don’t know about you, but when I make dessert, I want it now and not to wait for what feels like an eternity. In the directions, I say to chill the cheesecakes for 2 hours before serving, but if you’re in a hurry (or just really want your cheesecake!) you can pop them in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
I’ve had some less than stellar gluten-free crusts in the past but this one is perfect! Pre-baking the crusts and letting them cool slightly prevents the crust, which is almond flour based, from getting soggy. If you don’t have almond flour, you could use another type of nut flour or meal. I’m thinking hazelnut meal would be tasty!
I added a bit of lemon zest to the crust to liven it up and don’t recommend skipping this step because the crust would taste pretty neutral otherwise. Alternatively, you could add lime or orange zest or even a little extract to the crust if you want it a little more zippy. And the filling? So rich, creamy and smooth! I used just a little less sugar than often called for but none of my taste testers missed it or even noticed.
You can decorate the mini cheesecakes simply with blueberries and raspberries like I did or use a dessert sauce, like my honey sweetened strawberry sauce. And if it’s already too hot to bake and you need some cheesecake now, try Jamie’s no-bake lemon Oreo cheesecakes (but make sure to use gluten-free ingredients, if necessary!)
Gluten-Free Mini Cheesecakes
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 ¼ cups blanched almond flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
For the filling:
- 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2 large eggs room temperature
For decoration:
- berries and powdered sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with 12 muffin liners.
- Prepare the crust. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients, then stir in the butter and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Divide the mixture between the liners (18 grams or 3 1/2 teaspoons of mixture per liner) and lightly press down with the bottom of a shot glass.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until very lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 10 minutes while preparing the filling.
- Using an electric hand mixer or a stan dmixer fitted with the beater attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until light and creamy. Add the vanilla and salt and beat until combined. Beat in the eggs on low, one at a time, and just until well incorporated. Do not over mix!
- Fill each liner about 2/3 full with the batter and bake for 10 minutes or until the centers of the cheesecakes don't jiggle when the pan is tapped. Open the oven door (at least 1 foot wide) and let the cheesecakes cool to room temperature - about 1 1/2 hours. For easiest removal, remove the paper liners now. They can also be removed after chilling, though a little more cheesecake may stick to the liners then.
- Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Decorate with berries and dust with powdered sugar, if desired. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Notes
- If you need these to be gluten-free, make sure all your products are certified gluten-free.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Have you ever heard of using cheerios as the crust for cheesecake? I saw a recipe but it was for no bake cheesecake… I’m wondering if you think it will work on this. I only have soy and all purpose gf flour mix. I couldn’t find almond meal or almond flour.
I’ve never tried that but I just found this Cheerio crust you could try. Hope it works out well! :)
So excited to make these and if they turn out will make for family Xmas dinner! I’ve never made a cheescake before and they are cooling…we’ll see soon! They look good-hope they taste good. I did have to cook a bit longer but could just be my inexperience as wasn’t sure when they were done.
I hope you’ll enjoy them! They should have a really nice cheesecake texture and if they don’t, then you’ll know to bake them less next time. :) It’s hard to know when they’re ready, especially when you’ve never made cheesecake before. Thanks for your comment!
could I freeze these mini cheesecakes?
They freeze well! Hope you’ll enjoy them.
My best friend is GF, and I love to bake, so this has become my go to crust. I swapped out half of the almond flour for as much crushed, toasted cashews for a little bit of texture and it worked out amazing.
Thanks so much!
That sounds like a tasty sub! I’m so happy that the crust is working out well for you. Have you ever tried it in a pie pan? I’ve been meaning to try that! Thanks for your comment.
Well…very first time making a gluten free dessert. And just realized that I only have an 8-cup muffin tin. What happened to my 12-cup tin? But, I digress. Can I still make this delicious looking dessert (already breaking out in hives with anxiety :)) using the exact recipe and “stuffing” it into the 8-cup tin? I have silver foil cupcake liners and am hoping that they will hold it up and work! Thank you for your assistance!
Do you have some ramekins? I think that’d be a safer bet. I’m pretty sure they won’t fit in 8 cups, even if the liners go slightly over the rim of the pan. You could always stuff as much as you can in there and fill the rest in a small baking dish if you don’t have ramekins. I hope you’ll enjoy them!
So I made these for my birthday at work. I made 36. I brought home exactly 1. They were amazing.
I have a question about scaling up to a full sized cheesecake with this recipe. What would change in the cheesecake and crust ingredient proportions and bake time for a full size cake? I’m looking at your salted caramel cheesecake recipe. Is that a good guideline?
I’m so happy everyone enjoyed them at work! I could be wrong, but I don’t think this crust would work well in a springform pan for a full-sized cheesecake (at least not if you want to pat the crust up the sides – it might work if you just pat it over the bottom). In that case, I’d do 1.5x the crust (that’s just a guess, though) and double the filling. I have to admit that I have absolutely no idea how long this exact recipe would take in the oven when doubled and baked in a springform pan. I’d bake it until it was just a little jiggly in the middle. But if I were you, I’d use the filling in the caramel cheesecake recipe and go by those baking instructions. Sorry I don’t have a more definite answer for you!
I was making this today to take for dessert at dinner where the host was celiac and has a nut allergy. Rather than follow the crust recipe. I purchased Kinnikinnick brand Gluten Free Graham Style Cracker Crumbs. This product is available in Canada where I live and also in the US. Go to Kinnikinnick.com to find a store in your area. I followed the instructions on the Kinnikinnick box to create the crust, included the tablespoon of lemon zest and baked it as indicated in this cheesecake recipe. For the cheesecake filling I followed the recipe as indicated the only change being I cut back a wee bit on the sugar and added a teaspoon of Grand Marnier instead of vanilla. Baked it as indicated and chilled in refrigerator. To serve I drizzled the top of each individual cheesecake with a tart raspberry puree which I strained to remove seeds, then dressed each with a few raspberries and a couple of blackberries, then dusted with powdered (confectioners) sugar. It was so delicious and looked outstanding too. The simple cheesecake filling turns out perfect and is not too sweet. It’s a small portion but I like that about doing it in a muffin tin instead of doing in a springform pan. Don’t hesitate to try this recipe. It’s a winner!
Thanks for your suggestions, Rosemary! I’m glad everyone enjoyed it!
This was my first recipe from your website — it was fantastic! Easy & tasted great. I’m looking forward to trying some more of your recipes!
I cut the sugar in the crust by half & in the cheesecake by two-thirds to satisfy my Chinese relatives’ tastebuds (less sweet), but otherwise kept everything the same! Next time I might try replacing the sugar in the crust w/ brown sugar (and reducing a bit more) and subbing one of the packages of cream cheese with canned pumpkin & sour cream for a fall twist :)
I’m happy you enjoyed the recipe so much! That’s great you were able to reduce the sugar so much. I wouldn’t recommend subbing one of the cream cheese packages with pumpkin, though. But you’re in luck because I have a mini pumpkin cheesecake recipe as well. :) I hope you’ll enjoy that just as much! Thanks a bunch for your comment.
You say to cool in the oven for an hour with the door open, would it be possible to let them cool on the counter until at room temp insteaad?
Hi, Katie! Changing the temperature for a cheesecake too drastically can cause the cheesecake to crack. Keeping the cheesecake in the oven will prevent this. I hope this helps!
These desserts where delicious! They were so good and much healthier than other recipes. The only problem was that it took us ages to make them and then even longer to refrigerate them. But it was worth the wait!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Erin!