Grease and line a mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake papers
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Add the graham crackers to the bowl of your food processor, pulse to slightly break up the graham cracker.
Add the brown sugar, salt, and melted butter and pulse until the graham crackers are coarse crumbs.
Add a small amount of the graham cracker mixture to the cupcake pan. It’s about 2 tablespoon if using a standard size muffin pan or about 2 tps if you’re using a mini muffin pan.
Using a measuring cup or your fingers, press them down so the crumbs are packed down and secure. **If they’re not packed down enough the crust will crumble when baked.
Bake the sweet graham cracker crust at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.
While the crusts are baking add the cream cheese and brown sugar to a bowl and using an electric mixture beat until it’s light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the pumpkin, sour cream, and salt. Beat until well combined making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so all of the ingredients are well incorporated.
Add in the egg, vanilla, vanilla powder, pumpkin pie spice extract, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Beat well so all of the ingredients are well combined.
Evenly distribute the cheesecake filling onto each of the crust-lined cups.
Place the muffin tray on a baking sheet with some water (this will act as your water bath).
Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the cheesecake has set completely.
Allow them to cool for about 45 minutes then refrigerate for 2 hours or until overnight.
Top with whipped cream, whipped topping, or caramel and freshly grated nutmeg.
Notes
I used a standard sized cupcake pan for this recipe, you can use a mini cupcake pan. Reduce the baking time to 15-20 minutes.
Using cupcake liners makes removing it much easier, and I recommend using them.
I use unsalted butter, you can substitute salted butter or margarine. If using, reduce the salt by half.
Using room-temperature cream cheese will make the process so much easier. If the cream cheese is chilled I recommend beating the cream cheese for a few minutes before adding the brown sugar.
The vanilla bean powder can be left out, the powder gives the cheesecake an added vanilla flavor you can double the amount of vanilla extract
If you do not have pumpkin pie spice extract, increase the amount of pumpkin pie spice to 1 tsp.
Wait to top the mini cheesecakes with whipped cream and caramel until you’re ready to serve them.
I tested this recipe baking the cheesecakes without a water bath and cracking did happen! Make sure to bake them using a water bath. That’s as simple as adding water on a baking sheet and placing the muffin tin on top.