Dessert

Ingredients

• FOR THE CRUST:
• 1 ½ cup graham cracker crumbs
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter; melted
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• FOR THE FILLING:
• 3 (8 ounce) bricks of cream cheese; softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• Cherry Pie Filling or topping of your choice

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cupcake pans with 24 paper liners.
• In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar and cinnamon. Stir together with a fork until well blended and all dry ingredients are moistened and look like wet sand. Press 1 tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Bake until just set, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
• In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed with an electric mixer just until smooth. Beat in sugar until well incorporated. Mix in the salt and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, add in the heavy cream. Be careful not to over-mix.
• Spoon 3 to 4 tablespoons of the cheesecake batter over the crust in each cupcake liner using an ice cream scoop or two spoons.
• Bake until the filling is just set, about 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool to room temperature. Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill for at least 4 hours before topping and serving, preferably overnight.