Mini Key Lime Cheesecake Cupcakes!

I made this for a Christmas dinner my family was having and since everybody was bringing something over I thought might as well try this recipe from my new cookbook Classic Southern Desserts from the editors of Southern Living. So this was the winner: Key Lime Cheesecake. The recipe calls for strawberry sauce but since I don’t like strawberries I dropped a cherry in them with some Cool Whip and they tasted great with it. I went  a little overboard with the lime juice and added a little too much, making the cheesecake taste more bitter than sweet but it was still delicious. With this recipe I made two medium-sized cheesecakes and 2 batch of mini cheesecakes with Oreo and Nilla wafers.

Sadly, I didn’t took pictures of the cheesecakes but I did took some (bad) pictures of the mini cheesecakes bites which is why I’m going to put more emphasis on them.

Here’s the finished result:

I hate my pocket camera.

A little more detailed please:

You can see the crust better in this picture. It's Oreo!

Now, for the original recipe. Later I’ll put how to make these babies specifically.

Key Lime Cheesecake With Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients:

For crust

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted (1 stick)

For Cheesecake

• 3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened (room temp.)
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 (8-oz) container sour cream
• 1 1/2 tsp. lime zest
• 1/2 cup Key lime juice (fresh would be better)
• Garnish: Strawberries, Strawberry Sauce

Makes 10 to 12 servings

prep: 20 mins * cook: 1 hr., 13 min * other: 8hr., 15 min

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together first 3 ingredients (for crust) and press on bottom and 1 inch up sides of a greased 9-inch spring form pan. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes; let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.
2. Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add 1 1/4 cups sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in sour cream, zest and juice. Pour batter into crust.
3. Bake at 325° for 1 hour a 5 minutes* ; turn oven off. Let stand in oven, with door partially open, 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and immediately run a knife around edge of pan, releasing sides.
4. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack; cover and chill 8 hours. Garnish, if desired, and serve with Strawberry Sauce.

Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups fresh strawberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. lime zest

Directions

1. Process all ingredients in a food processor/blender until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides.

*Time may vary depending on the oven you have. For example mine didn’t take that long to bake, if I would have left it in the time the book said it would have burnt. *sad face*

For MY version of this cheesecake, check this out:

1. Do everything the recipe says and calls for (including ingredients) except maybe put 1/3 or 1/4 cup of lime juice instead of 1/2 if you don’t want a very bitter taste and more sweet.
2. Put a Nilla Wafer/Oreo in each cup OR do like I did: put a few Oreos or Nilla Wafers in a blender and crush them until they are a little fine but with little crumbs sticking out. Take a spoon and put 1/2 or tbsp in each cup. I believe this is better, don’t ask me why.
3. Fill the tins with the cheesecake filling and bake at 325° for 15-20 mins; let cool on the oven (don’t worry, they wont crack) and set aside on a wire rack. Chill for 4 hours or until completely cold.
4. Fill the top with Cool Whip and top it with a cherry.

As you can see, I had to take a picture before they were all over.

If you love lime, this recipe is for you. You can always cut off the lime and put any flavor you want or just leave it plain and simple (click here for a plain mini cheesecake recipe) but for me, as a lime lover, is p e r f e c t!

Enjoy!