Mini Cheesecakes (Cheesecake Cupcakes)

These cheesecake cupcakes were awesome. Very dense, just the way I think cheesecake is best. I brought these to a friend's house, and she already had some homemade strawberry sauce from earlier in the week, so we just put that on top. Next time, I will definitely do some sort of fruit sauce again, because these were so perfect! There's a recipe for strawberry sauce in the link to the original recipe, but I can't speak to how good it is. Might try it sometime, but I'd also be curious to try these with a raspberry sauce!

Ingredients:

1 cup finely crushed graham crackers (from ~8-9 sheets)
1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
4 Tbsp salted butter, melted
2 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream (or evaporated milk)
Strawberry Sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix crushed graham crackers with 1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar. Pour in melted butter and stir mixture until evenly mixed.
3. Divide this amongst 12 paper lined muffin cups. Press mixture with spoon to form an even layer.
4. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool while making the filling.
5. In a small mixing bowl, mix 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 1/2 Tbsp flour.
6. Put softened cream cheese in a separate mixing bowl and pour sugar/flour mixture over top. Blend mixture using an electric mixer on the lowest speed until smooth. You may need to knock down the beaters on your mixer a couple times.
7. Mix in eggs one at a time on low speed. Scrape sides down and mix until just combined after each addition.
8. Add vanilla, sour cream and heavy cream and mix just until just combined. Tap bowl against counter approximately 30 times; this will release some air bubbles.
9. Divide mixture into muffin cups, filling each until it is full. Bake in preheated oven 20 - 23 minutes. When they are done baking, their centers should still jiggle a little bit, but don't over-bake (they will crack if they’re almost over-baked).
10. Remove from oven and cool for 1 hour.  Store in an airtight container in refrigerator or freezer.
11. Just before serving, add the strawberry sauce to the top of the cheesecake. You can put the sauce on in advance, but it’s better if you wait until serving.

This recipe was adapted from "Cheesecake Cupcakes" at Cooking Classy (http://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/04/cheesecake-cupcakes/).