Mini Sweet Potato, Cranberry, and Pecan Cheesecake

I love to make no bake cheesecakes. They don’t take as long to make and they have a more creamy texture. For the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to make a cheesecake with all the ingredients my mother used to like the most, especially around Thanksgiving. So I created this in her memory.

It encompasses the flavors of fall and Thanksgiving beautifully, with a graham cracker and pecan crust, a layer of whole cranberry sauce, and creamy sweet potatoes!

I made these mini’s so it creates the perfect portion for one (or I guess even for two to share) person, but you can also use a regular pie plate, if you prefer. The mini’s give your table a little more variety when set beside your whole pies 🙂 . I used 3″ tin pie pans for this recipe, which yields about 12 mini pies.

I baked the crust for several minutes just to give the pecans that toasted taste, but if you want to go full no bake you don’t need to.

You will need:

Crust:

• 3/4 cup finely crushed graham crackers (about 5 full crackers)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans, plus more for garnish
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Filling:

• 4-5 ounces of sweet potato flesh, mashed (about 1 small potato prebaked until tender & skin removed)
• 4 oz plain cream cheese, softened
• 5 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
• 1/8 cup orange juice (about 1/2 of orange)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks, plus more for garnish
• premade orange cranberry sauce

Toppings/garnishes (optional but make it pretty…and even more tasty 🙂 )

• 12 sugared cranberries (click link for recipe)
• chopped pecans
• whipped cream
• powdered cinnamon

Steps:

1. For crust, combine crust ingredients well and press onto the bottom of mini pie plates or a 9 inch pie dish, and a little up the sides. use your fingers to press it in. You can bake the crust at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes to slightly toast the pecans for better flavor, or you can leave it as is and refrigerate to set while you make the filling. If baking, let cool completely before adding filling. To speed up the cooling process you can set in your freezer for 5-10 minutes.
2. For filling, combine the mashed sweet potato, softened cream cheese and condensed milk and mix until all incorporated and smooth.
3. Add orange zest, juice, vanilla extract and cinnamon and mix well.
4. Gently fold in stiff peak whipped cream, in two batches, until all combined.
5. Add a thin layer of your premade orange cranberry sauce to the pie crust(s) before filling.
6. Add the filling on top of the mini pie crusts and smooth out. Decorate/garnish with chopped pecans, whipped cream, powdered cinnamon, and sugared cranberries.
7. Refrigerate mini pies for at least 3 hours before eating, 6 or more for full pie.

Kali Orexi!