Salted Caramel Pecan Mini Cheesecakes. Some New Lotus Plaza.

This photo made me laugh.

These Salted Caramel Pecan Mini Cheesecakes almost made me cry….with happiness.

You have probably figured out by now that I love Salted Caramel desserts.

There was that dreamy Salted Caramel Vanilla Cheesecake that I made here and that Cake’n Cheesecake recipe with the Salted Caramel Sauce here.

And, of course, two of my favorite (and most popular) cupcakes ever….The Salted Caramel Filled Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes (here) and The Toffee Triple Chocolate Cupcakes With Salted Caramel Icing (here).

I recently purchased a mini cheesecake pan because it looked so darn cute. Then I got carried away searching mini cheesecake recipes (and pinning them on my Must Make This Pinterest Board).

I knew that the first recipe I wanted to try in the mini pan was these Salted Caramel Pecan Mini Cheesecakes.

All the right flavors in a little bite sized treat.

Some of my cheesecakes sunk a little too deep, but that just meant that they held more caramel.

Seriously good.

Salted Caramel Pecan Mini Cheesecakes

Ingredients for crust:

2 cups pecans, lightly toasted and finely chopped
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Ingredients for cheesecake filling:

16 oz cream cheese
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks
1 whole large egg

Ingredients for caramel topping:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
24 pecan halves, lightly toasted
Sea salt flakes for sprinkling

Note on the mini cheesecake pan:

If you only have one pan, bake the cakes in two batches, which is what I did. Refrigerate the remaining ingredients and bake the rest a few hours later or the next day. I just bought this pan and I was pleased with the ease of use and clean-up.

Directions for crust:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Combine crust ingredients.

3. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the crust crumbs into the bottom of each mini cheesecake cell. Using the blunt end of a wooden spoon or similar (I like the wooden tart tamper that I bought at a Pampered Chef party years ago) tamp the crumbs until firmly and evenly compacted.

4. Bake for 8 minutes.

Directions for cheesecake filling:

1. Place the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl and mix on medium/high speed until very smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Add the whipping cream and vanilla extract and beat until thoroughly blended. Add the egg yolks and egg and mix on low until just combined.

2. Spoon the mixture on top of the crumb crusts leaving about a 1/2″ between the top of the filling and the top of the pan.

3. Bake for 25 minutes or until the cheesecakes are firm to the touch. (The cheesecakes puff up above the top of the pan and sink as they cool, but the caramel hides this little imperfection.)

4. Allow the cakes to completely cool on a wire rack before removing them from the pans.

Directions for caramel topping:

1. Combine the sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Let boil until amber in color, about 3 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and stir in the butter until melted and fully incorporated (When I added the butter it separated out from the sugar mixture and I had to beat quite hard to get it into a smooth mixture.) Stir in cream and let cool to room temperature.

3. Drizzle caramel over cooled cheesecakes. Top with a toasted pecan half and a light sprinkle of sea salt.

Makes 24 mini (2″ diameter) cheesecakes.

Recipe from Bob Vivant