Mini Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecakes With a Pretzel Crust

The salty/sweet dessert of your dreams: mini peanut butter cup cheesecakes on a deliciously salty pretzel crust! Creamy, crunchy, salty, sweet, and prone to disappearing extremely quickly.

Living in a small family, baking a whole cheesecake is a bit excessive for us. Instead, we love mini-cheesecakes: they are perfectly portioned, no sharing necessary, and mini food just tastes better, right? We love mini greek yogurt key lime cheesecakes, and leftover cranberry sauce mini cheese cakes, but these peanut butter cup cheese cakes are absolutely over the top and such a treat!

With a full sized (!!) peanut butter cup surrounded by creamy peanut butter cheesecake, sitting on a salty pretzel crust, and drizzled with chocolate...I mean some days just call for a little extra somethin' somethin' and these cheesecakes are it.

The pretzel crust

Starting with the first layer of the cheesecakes, which is the pretzel crust! If you would prefer a more traditional graham cracker crust, check out this recipe.

To make the crust, we will need 1 cup of pretzel 'dust'. You can make it by either grinding pretzels to small pieces in a food processor, or by placing them in a ziplock bag and banging them with a rolling pin or heavy wooden spoon until broken into very small pieces.

Next, we mix this 'dust' together with melted butter and spoon it into muffin liners in a 12-count muffin pan.

Making the peanut butter cheesecake

At least 2 hours before starting this recipe, make sure you take the cream cheese and peanut butter out of the fridge. I like to take the cream cheese right out of the box so that it warms up to room temperature. This is crucial in getting that luscious, creamy cheesecake texture and avoiding lumps.

We begin by blending our softened cream cheese and peanut butter with sugar, egg, vanilla and heavy cream until smooth.

Place a peanut butter cup into each muffin liner, and pour (or spoon) the batter over top until the muffin cavity is ¾ full.

Bake for 15 minutes, cool on the counter, then place the cheesecakes in the fridge for several hours to set up.

Recipe tips & variations

• it's crucial that your cream cheese and peanut butter are at room temperature when you begin mixing the batter
• leftovers may be stored in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days
• feel free to omit the peanut butter cups, though you will end up with a smaller batch
• to bake this in a foil-lined 9 inch pan, I would suggest doubling the recipe and baking for 25 minutes or more, until the center sets up
• swap the peanut butter cup for an Oreo cookie and use an Oreo crumb mixture for the crust

More delicious desserts

• Cranberry Sauce Mini Cheesecakes
• Tequila-Lime Cheesecake Bars
• Greek Yogurt Key Lime Cheesecakes
• Carrot Cake Waffle Bites
• Salted Peanut Butter Nutella Sandwich Cookies

Did you make this? Tag me on social @sweetpeasandsaffron and be sure to leave a comment and rate the recipe!

Mini Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecakes with a Pretzel Crust

5 from 5 votes

Prep Time: 25 minutes mins

Cook Time: 15 minutes mins

Total Time: 40 minutes mins

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The salty/sweet dessert of your dreams: mini peanut butter cup cheesecakes on a deliciously salty pretzel crust! Creamy, crunchy, salty, sweet, and prone to disappearing extremely quickly.

12

Ingredients

Pretzel Crust

• ▢ 1 cup ground pretzels (100g- pretzels ground into crumbs)
• ▢ 6 tablespoons butter (85 g; melted; salted or unsalted)

Peanut Butter Mini Cheesecakes

• ▢ 1 block cream cheese (8 oz- softened to room temperature; see note *)
• ▢ ⅓ cup creamy peanut butter (softened to room temperature; see note *)
• ▢ ¼ cup sugar (50 g)
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 6 tablespoons heavy cream
• ▢ 12 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (full sized)

Other

• ▢ ½ cup chocolate chips (for melting and drizzling)

Instructions 

• Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Line a standard-sized muffin tray with muffin papers and set aside.
• Mix together the ground pretzels and the melted butter.
• Press 1 tablespoon into the bottom of each muffin paper, pat down with your fingers to flatten.
• In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth.
• Add the sugar and mix until no granules remain.
• Mix in the egg, vanilla, and cream until completely combined.
• Place a peanut butter cup in the center of each muffin paper. Spoon cheesecake mixture over top. Fill the muffin papers to about ¾ full.
• Bake for 15 or so minutes, center may have a slight jiggle will set up as they cool.
• Cool completely in the pan. Remove from pan and allow to set in the fridge, 2-3 hours.
• Drizzle with melted peanut butter chips and chocolate, if desired.

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Tips:

*it’s crucial that your cream cheese and peanut butter are at room temperature when you begin mixing the batter, otherwise the cheesecakes will be lumpy

Storage

• leftovers may be stored in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days

 

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1mini cheesecake, Calories: 292kcal, Carbohydrates: 26g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 20g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 41mg, Sodium: 242mg, Potassium: 125mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 18g, Vitamin A: 334IU, Calcium: 35mg, Iron: 1mg

Author: Denise Bustard

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

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