Homemade Mini Toffee Cheese Cake

Making the batter and spooning it into the muffin tins

Finished product of the Mini Toffee Cheese Cakes, with a homemade graham cracker crust

I used the leftover batter and crust and laid it in a loaf pan to make a whole cheese cake, I used this pan because I don't own an actual cheese cake pan.

I got this recipe from food network.com and brought some of my own ideas into it. Instead of using peanut butter cups, I used some toffee chips I already had in my cupboard and some leftover brownie crumbs. I stirred these straight into the batter as opposed to placing a single mini peanut butter cup at the bottom of the muffin tin. I wanted chocolate in every bite:-)

Also, this is the first time I have ever made a graham cracker crust and it is so easy, there is really no reason to buy it pre-made (just another money saver idea)

Peanut Butter Cheese Cake Minis

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

4 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

12 bite-size peanut butter cups

Filling:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or almond extract

2 eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a paper cupcake liner in each cup of a standard muffin pan.

To make crust, in a bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until crumbs are moistened. Press crust into bottom of each muffin cup. Put 1 peanut butter cup into the center of each crust.

Beat cream cheese with a handheld electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar, flour, and vanilla, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Spoon cream cheese mixture over peanut butter cups and graham cracker crusts. Bake until just set, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely before serving.

I suggest putting these in the refrigerator about 10 minutes after they leave the oven, to quicken the cooling process. I also learned that once they have been refrigerated it is a lot easier to remove the baking cups from the cheese cakes.