Crème Brûlée Cheesecake |Cooking With Amanda

At first glance these little individual crème brûlée cheesecakes with fresh berries look like crème brûlée instead, right? I mean exactly like it! But it's not. I was making these cute little single serving desserts and thought why not?

I love the crunch of a traditional crème brûlée. Brûlée in French means "burnt" because... well, it is. That crunchy, sweet, burned sugar that tops the classic dessert in amazing. A crème brûlée is also very often served with fresh berries on top. But underneath the crunchy topping of these desserts is a simple cheesecake batter instead.

I am a big fan of the individual dessert. There's little to no serving mess and they can make the cutest presentation. These Meyer lemon pudding cakes are one of my absolute faves! Even savory dishes are perfect made into individual servings. This fresh tomato and feta salad is a perfect example, and so perfect for this time of year, especially with all the heirloom tomatoes at the market right now! Yum!

But... getting back to these cute little buggers. These individual crème brûlée cheesecakes with fresh berries were so easy to make. I used a super simple crust. Not even a crust, really. I just crushed some graham crackers and added a little sugar and sprinkled them in the bottom of my small ramekins. Mixed up a quick cheesecake batter and baked them off.

Small things like this take less time to bake so they were so fast! Once they were done I sprinkled the top with a heavy coating of sugar and pulled out my torch.

I LOVE using my culinary torch! It's just so much fun. If you don't have a torch, don't sweat it. You could easily just broil the tops when you're ready to serve. Although it's a great tool to have and they really are relatively inexpensive.

Top the individual cakes with fresh berries of your choice and serve. Don't skip the berries though. They add such a great freshness that I think is needed.

Your family and friends will love these. I guarantee it!

Mini desserts are definitely where it's at! Try our mini banoffee pavlovas and brownie brittle no bake mini cheesecakes too.

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CrÃ¨me BrÃ»lÃ©e Cheesecake Recipe

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Ingredients

For the Crust:

7 graham crackers
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

For the Filling:

16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (2 bars)
2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Topping:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
berries, of choice
mint, optional garnish

Directions

In a food processor process graham crackers until they become fine crumbs. Add sugar and stir to incorporate.
Divide cracker crumb mixture evenly into 8-10 single serving ramekins. Number of servings depends on size and shape of ramekins. Muffin tins can be used as well.
Cream together cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add vanilla and combine.
Add eggs one at a time blending only until yellow has disappeared.
Divide batter into ramekins. Place in a roasting pan with boiling water that comes up to the mid-line of ramekins. Bake 15-20 minutes until set.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
If any moisture is on top gently blot with a paper towel. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons over each cheesecake swirling to cover completely. Pour off excess sugar.
If using a culinary torch, hold it a good distance away from the dessert and begin moving it closer and in a circular motion (keeping it moving constantly). When you get close enough it will start to liquefy and turn into little drops of sugar. As you keep going you'll begin to see a little smoke as the sugar turns a caramel color. Don't hold the flame on one spot too long but make sure you get all along the edges along with the middle. Once you have a good golden brown all over the top stop.
If not using a torch place the individual desserts under the broiler until they reach the same golden color.
Add your berries and enjoy!!