I love cheesecake in just about every form it comes in, and when I asked my sons what flavor they wanted this year for Christmas, my oldest suggested Hawaiian. (My youngest suggested raspberry – it’s on the list for next time buddy!). I’ve made lots of Hawaiian cheesecakes over the years – full sized ones, but I wanted to do something a little different this year. While I for one can usually find room after a holiday meal for a full slice of cheesecake, I then end up miserable because I ate too much (and don’t we all at the holidays). Sometimes you just want a bite of something sweet instead of the whole piece, so I decided to make mini cheesecakes instead of the traditional full-sized cake.

Making mini cheesecakes is definitely more work than simply pouring the batter into one pan, but this is great for portion control, if you have someone who is trying to stick to a diet but doesn’t want to feel deprived, and so on. Plus, I think mini cheesecakes are easier to freeze than a regular sized one, so there is that advantage if you want to make these up ahead of time.

My mini pans have 12 cups, and I got 60 cakes from this recipe plus a little extra batter. There was also plenty of crust left over.

Mini Hawaiian Cheesecake Bites

Crust:

1 cup pecans or walnuts (I used pecans this time but have also used macadamia nuts, which are delicious in this)

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted)

Filling:

16 ounces cream cheese at room temperature (2 packages)

4 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons milk

2 eggs

2 teaspoons good vanilla

16 ounces crushed pineapple, well drained

Coconut flakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a food processor, add the pecans, flour, sugar and melted butter. Pulse until fine crumbs form. Pat approximately 1 teaspoon of crust mixture into the bottom of an ungreased mini muffin tin. Bake for 10 minutes or until crusts start to brown. Set aside to cool.

Mix together the softened cream cheese, sugar, milk, and eggs until well combined. Fold in the vanilla and drained pineapple.

Fill mini muffin cups with cream cheese mixture (about 1 teaspoon or so). Top each cake with a few flakes of coconut.

Bake cakes for about 10 minutes or until set. Edges will be set and middle may be slightly loose, but as there isn’t that much filling in each muffin cup, it won’t take long.

Let cakes cool completely before removing from pans. Store in refrigerator or freeze until ready to use. If frozen, defrost in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.

Yield: About 60 mini cheesecakes

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