These No-bake Cheesecake Bites With Graham Cracker Crust are the perfect easy no-bake dessert.
Longtime Baking Mischief readers might remember a few summers ago when I got *really* excited about learning to make no-bake cheesecakes. All the deliciousness of baked cheesecake, a fraction of the time and effort, and no need to turn on your oven during the summer. What’s not to love?
I posted these amazing Oreo Cheesecakes Bites and these cute little No-bake Unicorn Cheesecakes, and you guys seemed to like them as much as I do because they’ve been pretty popular.
So I thought it was time to revisit no-bake cheesecakes with these supremely adorable and waaaaay too irresistible Cheesecake Bites With Graham Cracker Crusts.
Why You Should Make These Cheesecake Bites Today
- They’re completely adorable. Seriously, how cute are these!!??
- Since these are no-bake, they’re basically fool-proof. No worrying about cracked cheesecakes or water baths with these bites. They’re simple and easy to throw together.
- They’re incredibly good. The chocolate has the most satisfying snap when you bite into it. The cheesecake layer is creamy and lightly sweet. And the graham cracker crust is crumbly, buttery, and totally the best part.
- They are the perfect freezer treat. Store them in your freezer and grab one whenever you need a little sweet pick me up.
Ingredient Notes
- Heavy cream: This recipe won’t use a full carton of heavy cream. For storage tips and recipes to use up the leftovers, check out my post What to do With Leftover Whipping Cream.
- Cream cheese: My go-to cream cheese brand for desserts is Philadelphia cream cheese. Make sure to allow enough time for your cream cheese to soften at room temperature. Cream cheese that’s too cold can leave cream cheese lumps in your cheesecake layer.
- Refined coconut oil: The chocolate layer calls for refined coconut oil. This makes the chocolate easier to work with and creates a nicer texture to bite into. You can use unrefined coconut oil if that’s what you have on hand, but your cheesecakes will also taste slightly of coconut. You can also substitute the same amount of vegetable oil.
How to Make Cheesecake Bites
To make these cheesecake bites, you’ll need four(ish) things, a mini muffin pan (see recipe notes if you want to make these in a standard muffin tin), mini muffin liners, a handheld electric mixer, and optional pastry bag for quicker cheesecake piping.
- Make the graham cracker crust: Stir together butter, graham cracker crumbs, and brown sugar. Press it firmly into lined mini muffin tins.
- Make the cheesecake layer: Whip heavy cream into stiff peaks. In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract, and then fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Use a piping bag to pipe the cheesecake mixture over the graham cracker crust.
- Make the chocolate topping: In a small bowl, stir together oil and chocolate and microwave until melted. Spoon chocolate over the cheesecakes.
- Freeze bites until frozen solid and enjoy!
FAQ
What’s the best way to make graham cracker crumbs?
The quickest way to make graham cracker crumbs is to pulse the crackers in your food processor, but for this amount of crumbs, I prefer to just put the graham crackers in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin or meat mallet to crush the crackers into a fine crumb.
I don’t have a mini muffin pan. Can I make these in a regular muffin/cupcake tin?
Yes! This recipe will make about 4 mini cheesecakes in a cupcake pan.
Do I have to use cupcake liners in my mini muffin tin?
YES!! Unless you’re using a flexible silicone pan, absolutely do not try to make these without cupcake liners. You will have an impossible time trying to get them out of the pan.
If really want to make these right now and you don’t have liners, you can cut thin strips of parchment paper and cross them in an X under the crust layer so you can grab the strips and pop the cheesecakes out once they’re frozen.
But it’s kind of fiddly and a pain, so I recommend just ordering some liners or grabbing some from the store first.
Can I double this recipe?
Yes you can. This recipe can be scaled up with no preparation changes needed. To change the recipe yield, hover over the serving size in the recipe card below or click if you’re on mobile, and slide the slider.
No-bake Cheesecake Bites Recipe Notes
- If you don’t have heavy cream in your fridge, but you do have Cool Whip, you can cut the sugar in the cheesecake layer by half and replace the whipping cream with 2x the amount of Cool Whip.
More Frozen Treats
More Cream Cheese Recipes
No-bake Cheesecake Bites With Graham Cracker Crust
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- Mini muffin tin
- Mini muffin liners
- Handheld electric mixer
- Piping bag or disposable plastic bag optional*
Graham Cracker Crust
- 2 tablespoons (28g) salted butter
- 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs* 3 to 4 full graham cracker sheets
- 1 heaping tablespoon (16g) brown sugar
Cheesecake Layer
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 3 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 heaping tablespoons (32g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Topping
- 1/2 cup (3oz) chopped semi-sweet chocolate (good quality chips are fine)
- 2 teaspoons refined coconut oil or vegetable oil
Instructions
- Line your mini muffin pan with 16 liners and clear enough space in your freezer to fit the pan.
- In a medium, microwave-safe bowl, melt butter. Stir in graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar until mixture begins to clump. Drop a heaping teaspoon of the crust into each of the prepared muffin cups. If there are leftover crumbs, distribute them between the cups (or eat them 😉 ). Use the top of a wooden spoon or bottom of a shot glass to firmly pack the crumbs into the cups.
- Pour heavy cream into a small bowl and use a handheld electric mixer, starting on low, working up to high to beat cream until stiff peaks form.
- In a medium bowl, combine softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until well-mixed and fluffy.
- Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until no streaks remain, being careful not to deflate the whipped cream as best you can. Transfer mixture to a piping bag or disposable plastic bag and snip off a corner of the bag. Use the bag to pipe the cheesecake mixture into the muffin cups, filling them about 3/4 of the way full and smoothing the top of each cheesecake as you go.
- Place cheesecakes in the freezer and freeze for 10 to 15 minutes, until just set.
- In a small, microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate and coconut oil. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir until smooth. If necessary, microwave in 15-second increments until melted. Use a teaspoon to drop spoonfuls of chocolate over the cheesecakes until all the tops are covered and chocolate is gone.
- Freeze for 3 to 4 hours until completely solid. Remove cheesecakes from tray (leave wrappers on) and store in an airtight container or freezer bag in the freezer for up to a month.
- Enjoy!
Notes
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using them. There is absolutely no additional cost to you.
Albert Bevia says
I´m a fan of all your no-bake cheesecakes, so perfect during the summer time…cause no one wants to turn on their oven! these cheesecake bites are another huge winner
Tracy says
Thanks so much, Albert!
Shashi at SavorySpin says
I’m not sure what I’m doing with my summer cos until today I didn’t even think of making these DEEEELICIOUS NO BAKE cheesecake bites! But, am rectifying that tonight! I don’t have cream but I do have Col Whip so thank you so much for that substitution advice.Tonight these go on my summer bucket list – tho, wish you had included tips on how to hide this from college age children! 🙂
Hoping you are doing well, Tracy xoxo
Tracy says
LOL, good luck hiding them from Geri! And if that fails, I hope you both at least enjoy them! 😉
Jeanette Smith says
Hi Looking to make these for the holidays, but don’t want a frozen treat in the winter. I wanted to make ahead, freeze and hopefully defrost for an hour or so before serving…thoughts?
Tracy says
Hi, Jeanette, I worry that defrosted, biting into them with the solid chocolate topping would make the cheesecake middle squish out the sides as it’s fairly soft. (Though I could be wrong about this. I haven’t tried it.)
You could definitely to what you described, but I might do a chocolate drizzle rather than completely covering it, and make sure to unwrap them before defrosting or the wrappers won’t come off completely neatly. You could also skip the chocolate completely and top them with strawberry sauce (like this: https://bakingmischief.com/2017/07/12/strawberry-sauce-for-pancakes/) after they’re defrosted instead.
Hope that helps!
dyette hernandez says
Are 16 0f these treats ACTUALLY ONLY a total of 103 calories?
Tracy says
Hi, Dyette, I wish! Calorie count is per cheesecake (unfortunately).
Jennie Landean says
Your no bake cheesecake bites were a big hit at our party yesterday and I’ve been asked to make them again for two upcoming parties. There are a number of non chocolate levers among our friends (hard to believe, I know!) so I made them without the chocolate and doubled up on the cheesecake filling. Thank you for the recipe!
Hira says
Thank you for the recipe. These are just amazing and delicious. Thank you so much.
Tracy says
Thanks, Hira! So glad you enjoyed them!!
Jessie S says
Thanks, Tracy. These tasty little bites were fun to make. Wanted to let others know that I used a silicone mini-muffin pan without liners and they popped out just fine after being frozen.
Tracy says
So glad you enjoyed them, Jessie!!
Suja says
These are great little treats for kids. Thanks Tracy.
Tracy says
So glad you enjoyed them!
Kim says
I never buy pastry bags, but Ziplocs work just as well!!! Success at our Happy Hour. Thanks!!!
Tracy says
This is a great tip! So glad everyone enjoyed them!!