Mini Gingerbread Cheesecakes with Salted Caramel Sauce

For the gingersnap crust:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 12-count cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

In a bowl mix together your gingersnap crumbs, butter, sugar and dash of salt. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the crumb mixture into each cup and pat it down with the back of your spoon. Bake for 10 minutes then remove from oven and let them cool off to the side.

For the gingerbread cheesecake filling:
Drop your oven temp to 325 F when you pull the crusts out of the oven.

Begin boiling a pot of water for your water bath. You’ll just need whatever amount that will fill a sheet/roaster pan about halfway full.

In a large bowl combine your cream cheese and sugar and blend together until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, mix in between each addition. Make sure to mix them in entirely and scrape down the sides of your bowl with a spatula to make sure all is incorporated. Add in your molasses, heavy cream and all the spices. Mix together until smooth, but don’t over mix. Spoon batter into each crust and fill about 3/4 full.

Place your pan of cheesecakes into the oven on the middle rack. On the rack below place your sheet pan and fill it about halfway full with your boiling water. Be careful not to burn yourself!

Bake the cheesecakes for about 25 minutes or until edges are set and the center slightly jiggles. When they are done turn off your oven and leave door ajar and let them sit in oven for five minutes. Remove from oven and let them cool in the cupcake pan for about 20 minutes. Then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely. I recommend refrigerating these before serving and topping with the sauce. So if you do this, you can wait to prepare the sauce until you are ready to assemble.

For the salted caramel sauce:
Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Once butter is melted, add brown sugar and whisk until combined and thickened. This will take about 2 minutes. Then add cream and vanilla. Don’t worry, it will bubble up at you, just keep whisking and it will all combine. Cook about 3 minutes on medium-low heat whisking constantly. Turn off heat and whisk in sea salt. Let the mixture cool slightly. As it cools it will thicken more. If it becomes too thick it can be thinned easily by reheating in the microwave.

I recommend refrigerating these before serving and when assembling them I removed the cupcake paper, added a dollop of whipped cream and then drizzled the caramel sauce over the top.

Recipe was inspired by: Gimme Some Oven.