Skinny Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes (gluten-free, grain-free)

Skinny Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes filled with pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice, complete with a crust made of chopped pecans and maple syrup. Made “mini” size, so there’s no messy cutting or long bake times; these are a great, healthier Holiday dessert, made gluten-free, grain-free, and refined sugar-free.

The last recipe I posted, I shared an easy cookie recipe for the Holidays.

In that post, I promised there would be more desserts coming your way that were perfect for the Holidays. That are a little more “fancy,” for those of you who like to kick your entertaining up a notch or two 🙂

Ingredients

Pecan Crust

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

3 tbsp maple syrup or honey

2 tsp water

1 tsp butter, melted

Pumpkin Cheesecake

8 oz reduced fat cream cheese

1/2 cup Greek yogurt (I used 2%)

1/4 cup maple syrup or honey

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice seasoning

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

Instructions

Pecan Crust

To prepare, preheat your oven to 325 and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. I like to spray a little non-stick spray in mine too, just in case!

In a small bowl, stir together your chopped pecans, honey, water and butter.

Add an overflowing tablespoon of your pecan mixture to each cupcake liner, then use the back of your tablespoon measure to press the pecan mixture into the bottom of the liner in a flat, firm layer.

Bake in the oven for about 13-14 minutes, or till the edges of the crust are starting to brown a touch and the crust feels a bit firm. *Create your pumpkin cheesecake filling while your crust is in the oven*

Pumpkin Cheesecake

In a large mixing bowl, beat your cream cheese with a hand mixer for a minute or two, till it's creamy and smooth.

Add in your Greek yogurt, honey, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice and vanilla, and blend again till smooth and everything is well incorporated.

Add your egg into the mixture and blend briefly - only till the egg is well incorporated, do NOT over beat the mixture at this point!

Once your mini pecan crusts are out of the oven, preheat your oven to 350. Fill each cupcake liner almost full (till just below the top of the liner). Repeat until all cupcake liners are filled with your pumpkin cheesecake filling.

Bake in the oven for 17-20 minutes, or till the cheesecakes are set (with only a slight wiggle in the middle, when you jiggle your pan).

Let your cheesecakes cool for 30 minutes on the counter. Then, put them in an airtight container and store them in your fridge.

Serve with cool whip on top and extra pecans. Devour!