Mini Pumpkin Goat Cheese Cheesecakes with Chocolate Moons (Gluten Free, Honey-Sweetened)

Ever since I saw these silicone moon and sun molds I knew I HAD to make something with them. Preferably something with chocolate. And I’ve been dreaming about pumpkin goat cheese cheesecakes for some time now — with Halloween around the corner and Thanksgiving just a hop skip and jump away I figured… what better time to make a spooky cute pumpkin dessert than now?

These cheesecakes are made with soft chèvre goat cheese, wildflower honey, eggs, vanilla, my favorite pumpkin pie spice blend and a gluten-free gingersnap cookie crust. They’re INSANE. I haven’t made a recipe that’s excited me this much in a while — I feel like I brag about it to everyone I meet!

Pumpkin pie wishes it was this cheesecake!

(Keep scrolling to bottom of post for the recipe)

These cheesecakes are:

• Creamy and decadent.

• Honey-sweetened.

• Sweet but not overly sweet.

• Made with real pumpkin puree.

• Naturally gluten-free.

• Baked in standard muffin tins to make individual portions easy.

• Low-maintenance! The crusts are just gingersnaps ground and mixed with coconut oil. The cheesecake batter is whipped together in a blender. Bake. Then top with chocolate moons (or not, they’re incredibly yummy even without extra chocolate).

• Cute as a dang button!

If you can get your hands on some cool silicone molds it’s 100% worth it for that extra cool factor. These chocolate moons are just extra-dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and butterscotch chocolate chips melted and swirled together. I ended up using Guittard chocolate chips (my preference). I admit I mostly made these for the looks because I’m dairy free and could only have a bite or two of the moon faces. But I would definitely splurge for a dairy free white chocolate next time — white chocolate is stunning combined with these cheesecakes!

Here are links to everything I used:

• Silicone Moon / Sun Moulds.

• Mountain Rose Herbs Pumpkin Pie Spice (my all time favorite blend!)

• Gluten Free Gingersnaps or Oat Graham Cookies.

• My favorite extra dark chocolate chips (they also have white chocolate and butterscotch chips which I used in this recipe).

• Sugar free chocolate chips (Lily’s Sweets).

• Dairy free white chocolate (Loving Earth Caramel Chocolate, No Whey White Chocolate Bar).

Honey-Sweetened Pumpkin Goat Cheese Cheesecakes Recipe

Author: Renee Byrd - Prep time: - 10 mins - Bake Time: 18-20 mins - Makes: 1 dozen mini cheesecakes

Notes: 1. These cheesecakes could be made dairy-free with a thick, plain-style dairy-free cream cheese like the one sold by Kite Hill. 2. Make sure to chill these before serving otherwise the cookie crusts will feel greasy.

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten free ginger snaps / graham crackers

• 3 tbsp ghee or coconut oil

• 1 1/4 cups chèvre-style goat cheese

• 1/2 cup wildflower honey

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

• 3 eggs

• Pinch sea salt

  Optional moon toppers:

• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips, melted

• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips, melted

• 1/4 cup butterscotch chips, melted

• 6 silicone moon / sun molds, about 3 1/2” wide

Method

1. Line a standard muffin tin with parchment cupcake liners. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. In the bowl of a blender or food processor, grind cookies into sandy texture. Add cookie crumbs to a mixing bowl.

3. Melt ghee/coconut oil and stir into cookie crumbs -- you'll end up with a texture like wet sand. Press equal amounts of the cookie crumbs firmly into the bottoms of your cupcake liners, about 1 heaping tablespoon each.

4. In the base of a blender, combine goat cheese, honey, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin purée, eggs and pinch sea salt. Blend until smooth.

5. Pour the cheesecake base into your muffin tin equally. Tap the base of the tin against your work surface to release trapped air bubbles.

6. Bake your cheesecakes at 350F 18-20 mins or until puffed and set (no jiggles).

7. Allow to cool to room temp (they will de-puff). Cool in the fridge to set completely.

8. Serve as is or top with chocolate moons.

9. Leftovers keep well refrigerated and covered for ~5 days and can be frozen for a month.

For the moon toppers:

1. In your moon moulds, add 1 tsp each melted white chocolate, dark chocolate and butterscotch. Use a chopstick or thin spoon to get the chocolate into all of the crevices. Tap the molds against your work surface to evenly disperse the chocolate into all of the tiny spaces. You might also swirl the chocolate in the molds with a chopstick etc. to create patterns.

2. Chill 20 mins to set.

This post is proudly sponsored by Mountain Rose Herbs. Check out all of their incredible Organic spice blends, from Pumpkin Pie Spice to Garam Masala to Herbs de Provence, they have something for every palette! Thank you for supporting the brands that support this site. All words and opinions are my own.