Miniature Cherry Cheesecakes

Who doesn't love cheesecake?  Creamy richness, and you can trick yourself into thinking you're eating enough protein that it's actually a healthy dessert (or maybe that's just me).  Anyway, below is a recipe for delicious little miniature cheesecakes, perfect for those of us with portion control (again, possibly just me).

Crust:

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

3 tbs butter (melted)

1/2 tbs sugar

Creamy goodness:

12 oz cream cheese (softened)

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

Topping:

Cherry pie filling

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and line a cupcake tin with 12 paper liners.  Mix together all the crust ingredients thoroughly, then press about a spoonful of crust into the bottom of each paper liner - if you have any extra crust, you can definitely use it and make thicker crusts, but in my opinion, the filling is the best part anyway.  Bake the crust for about 5 minutes, or until it starts to brown slightly.  In the meantime, beat together all of the ingredients for the filling until smooth, then spoon over the crusts.  You should be able to fill each cup until it's just about overflowing.  Bake the cheesecakes for about 20 minutes, or until the centers set (the tops might begin to crack while they cook, but that's normal and fine).  Let the cheesecakes cool - their centers will sink slightly during this time, which is perfect for the topping.  After they cool, spoon some cherry pie filling into the little "sinkhole" in the center, and voila!