Miniature-sized cheesecakes with a cinnamon-sugar swirl and a cream cheese topping. These mini desserts taste just like a cinnamon roll in a cheesecake form.
video tutorial
If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed my obsession with miniature desserts. Namely miniature cheesecakes. Not only have there been lemon-blueberry cheesecakes here, but oreo ones have made their debut as well.
Clearly, I love mini desserts.
These cheesecakes have swirls on cinnamon sugar goodness and are covered (drenched?) in a cream cheese frosting. Just how I love cinnamon rolls. The more frosting = better.
These cheesecakes are super simple. No water bath is needed and they only bake for about 20-22 minutes. The only hard part is waiting for them to cool. 1 hour at room temperature + 2 hours in the fridge. But it will all be worth it!
You’ll want to start with a homemade graham cracker crust. And this recipe calls for a thick crust which I personally think is a requirement for cheesecakes.
Next, the actual cheesecake. The cheesecake is pretty standard. The usual ingredients: lots of cream cheese, plenty of white sugar, a tad bit of flour, a few drops of vanilla extract, and one large egg.
And of course, there has to be a cinnamon swirl in these cinnamon roll cheesecakes — softened butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar are mixed to create the *perfect* cinnamon-sugar filling. That filling gets swirled into the cheesecake TWICE. First, on top of the graham cracker crust, you’ll spoon out a bit of the cheesecake filling, then some of the cinnamon-sugar filling gets swirled around. And next, you’ll layer a bit more cheesecake and top it off with more cinnamon-sugar swirled in.
The most important thing to note with this recipe is the mixing of the cheesecake. You want to mix only on low speed so you don’t whip air into the mixture. The more air that gets whipped into these cheesecakes, the more they will rise and then fall when being baked. It is normal for the cheesecakes to rise a bit in the oven, but once they are cooled, they deflate quite a bit. Mixing slowly and using room temperature ingredients will keep the fall to a minimum :). Enjoy!
Miniature Cinnamon Roll Cheesecakes
Ingredients
Crust:
- 4 full sheets of graham crackers
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter (unsalted or salted) melted
Cheesecake:
- 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons white flour
- 1 large egg at room temperature
Cinnamon-sugar swirl
- 1/4 cup butter (unsalted or salted) softened, not melted
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon white flour
Cream cheese topping
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 - 1 and 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk, only if needed
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a regular sized muffin tin with 9 liners and fill up half of the other empty spaces with water. This ensures even baking. Spray the liners with non-stick spray. (Cinnamon sugar mixture gets sticky!)
- In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers to crumbs. Stir in the sugar and melted butter. Press an even amount of graham cracker crust into the bottom of each muffin liner.
- Press down the crust with a milk cap or the backside of a tablespoon measuring spoon and set aside.
Cheesecake
- In a medium sized bowl, combine the room temperature cream cheese and white sugar. Beat gently only on low speed until smooth and creamy. Do not vigorously mix at all (this beats in air and will cause the cheesecakes to rise and fall a lot) Add in the vanilla extract, flour, and a lightly beaten egg. Beat until just combined (again very gently mixing as little as possible).
Cinnamon-Sugar Swirl
- In a small bowl, combine the softened (do not melt) butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Stir until completely combined to a thick paste.
- Spoon 1 tablespoon of the cheesecake filling into each of the prepared 9 cups. Then place 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon sugar swirl on top. Swirl the cinnamon sugar into the cheesecake with a toothpick.
- Top the rest of the cheesecake filling on top (about 1 more tablespoon per cheesecake) and then disperse the remaining cinnamon sugar (about 1/2 teaspoon) swirl evenly among the 9 cheesecakes.
- Swirl the cinnamon sugar (again) on top of the cheesecake with a toothpick and bake for 20-22 minutes. The centers will still jiggle a little bit, but the edges should be a very light brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool at room temperature for 1 hour and then transfer to the fridge and let cool for at least 2 hours.
- The cheesecakes will have risen in the oven and will deflate quite a bit while cooling.
Cream cheese topping
- Cream together the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract and cream cheese. Slowly add in the heavy cream (if needed for a thinner frosting) until desired consistency is reached.
- Spoon over the cooled cheesecakes and drizzle extra cream cheese frosting on top.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Cheesecake:
Frozen Hot Chocolate Cheesecake
Brownie “Batter” Cheesecake Ball
Frozen Peanut Butter Cup NO BAKE Cheesecake
Hi! I’m so glad that I came across your recipe – it is EXCELLENT! I was looking for something to make for an annual holiday party that requires no silverware/individual servings. I read all of the comments, saw how others were also interested in a smaller version so I wanted to share that I successfully made this recipe into 24 mini cheesecakes (metal pan). I followed your recipe exactly and just figured that it would be a matter of trial and error as I went along…
– I placed a mini paper liner, sprayed it as instructed (really helped) and put a loose 1/2 tablespoon of crust for each – had about a tablespoon left over, which I promptly ate 🙂
– I used a damper to flatten the bottom and it took less than 5 minutes. For those of you that bake tarts or mini crusts, a damper is invaluable – you will love it!
– I filled each half way and then swirled in approximately a 1/4 teaspoon of the cinnamon/sugar mix. I then topped off the remaining cheesecake mixture and swirled in another 1/4 teaspoon. It was a perfect amount – no cheesecake mixture was leftover.
– By the time I did all of this, my cinnamon/sugar mix had set, so I microwaved it for about 20 seconds to make it liquidy again. I did have a lot of the cinnamon/sugar mixture left over, I’d say about half.
– I baked it for 20 minutes – they were great, but next time I think that they’ll be fine at 18. They were still soft, but some crusty cinnamon/sugar edges. You really can’t go wrong. 🙂
– They were amazing on their own! A few didn’t make it to get topped with the frosting… Per my taste, this was the only thing that I changed from the original recipe – I only added one cup of the powdered sugar and after filling the tops, I had to add a little milk (about a tablespoon and a little more) to get it to a drizzle-like consistency.
We all love them and I will definitely be making them for the party in December. I will double everything except the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Thank you so much and I hope that my mini measurements are helpful.
I’m so happy you loved this recipe!!! And thank you so much for taking the time to write up all your notes on making these cheesecakes miniature — SO helpful!! I really appreciate it and I’m sure a lot of others do as well! Thanks Ingrid 🙂
Hi! I’m so glad that I came across your recipe – it is EXCELLENT! I was looking for something to make for an annual holiday party that requires no silverware/individual servings. I read all of the comments, saw how others were also interested in a smaller version so I wanted to share that I successfully made this recipe into 24 mini cheesecakes (metal pan). I followed your recipe exactly and just figured that it would be a matter of trial and error as I went along…
– I placed a mini paper liner, sprayed it as instructed (really helped) and put a loose 1/2 tablespoon of crust for each – had about a tablespoon left over, which I promptly ate 🙂
– I used a damper to flatten the bottom and it took less than 5 minutes. For those of you that bake tarts or mini crusts, a damper is invaluable – you will love it!
– I filled each half way and then swirled in approximately a 1/4 teaspoon of the cinnamon/sugar mix. I then topped off the remaining cheesecake mixture and swirled in another 1/4 teaspoon. It was a perfect amount – no cheesecake mixture was leftover.
– By the time I did all of this, my cinnamon/sugar mix had set, so I microwaved it for about 20 seconds to make it liquidy again. I did have a lot of the cinnamon/sugar mixture left over, I’d say about half.
– I baked it for 20 minutes – they were great, but next time I think that they’ll be fine at 18. They were still soft, but some crusty cinnamon/sugar edges. You really can’t go wrong. 🙂
– They were amazing on their own! A few didn’t make it to get topped with the frosting… Per my taste, this was the only thing that I changed from the original recipe – I only added one cup of the powdered sugar and after filling the tops, I had to add a little milk (about a tablespoon and a little more) to get it to a drizzle-like consistency.
We all love them and I will definitely be making them for the party in December. I will double everything except the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Thank you so much and I hope that my mini measurements are helpful for the holiday season.
Love the cheese cakes. Wondering how many calories in each cup.
How many calories in one cheese cake?
Hi Chelsea! I love everything you post and try to make most of your recipes. I made the cinnamon cheesecakes last night and have a couple of questions: In the pictured description/commentary you say “the swirl gets a little crazy, MELTED butter, etc” but in the recipe itself it says” room temperature” = which is your preferred????? Also, when I made the swirl and mixed 1/2 cup room temp butter with 1/2 cup sugar it made a “paste” and wasn’t easy to swirl. So dear Chelsea where did I go wrong?? Oh – bottom line is that they were still VERY delicious. I would like to make them again but would totally appreciate you clearing up the melted vs. room temp butter. MANY THANKS!!
Hi Rosa! You are so sweet – that really makes my day to hear that! Sorry to have a few mistype on my recipe – hopefully I can clear it up for you 🙂 The butter should be MELTED, not at room temperature for that swirl. That should make it a lot easier to stir together those swirl ingredients. Sorry about that, but thank you so much for checking so I can update my recipe and make it better for other 🙂 Glad you enjoyed these!!
You should have a Facebook tab under your recipe so we can add it to our timeline.
Thanks so much for the feedback Cammie! I will look into getting something with a Facebook tab 🙂
Could you provide the measurement needed if I were to use purchased graham cracker crumbs instead of the sheets? This recipe sounds so delicious!
I’m sorry, I really have no idea since I’ve never used just the crumbs. I found online that 14 crackers equals about 1 cup of crumbs. Maybe this site will help as a reference: https://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?42753-Ratio-whole-graham-crackers-to-crumbs
Made these earlier today and they turned out great! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
So glad to hear! Thanks for the comment! 🙂
I made the mistake of making these without reading the comments. I thought they were cooked in mini muffin tins and they ended up running over and making a bit of a mess but they were the most delicious mess I’ve ever made. The cheesecake filling is soo good and the cinnamon is over the top. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you liked it! Yes definitely use a regular muffin tin and hopefully these will work out better for you next time! 🙂
Would it be possible to make these in mini muffin tins? Would the cooking time need to be adjusted? Thanks! These look amazing!
I wouldn’t recommend making them in miniature muffin tins but I haven’t tried it. If you do, the baking time would need to be adjusted; I’m not sure to what though since I haven’t done it. If you try it out I would love to hear the results!