true story, i called up my mom last week and said, “hey, if you were sent a bunch of pretzels to make something with… like a dessert… what would it be? she responded with “can i call you back in a few minutes…?” this, literally out of her head, was the recipe she called back with. my mom doesn’t even blog and she’s totally an expert. martha can eat it!

so we tried it out, she made a full cheesecake, and i made minis.
i LOVE using the pretzels as a crust , especially for the salted caramel version of these, because it isn’t extremely sweet. it is kind of sweet and salty so it gives it a little different flavor than the trusty graham cracker crust. i’m all for that too, but this was a fun change, and definitely worth the try!!

i tried making both a strawberry version and a salted caramel version and couldn’t decide which to post, so you get both! i actually like the caramel better, but i’ll let you decide.

salted caramel pretzel cheesecakes
recipe {barely} adapted from my mother, peg moffat.
{who comes up with this stuff out of nowhere.}

prepare muffin tins with metal lined cupcake papers. spray insides with pam.
preheat oven to 350.

crusts:
3 cups crushed pretzels
½ cup salted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
spray butter {optional}

what to do:

 

pulverize about 3/4 of a oz bag of original pretzel crisps® in a blender, magic bullet or cuisinart. add brown sugar, vanilla, and melted butter. mix well and press about 1.5 tbsp. into each cupcake paper. spray with butter to solidify crust.

filling:
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (room temp)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

what to do:
blend cream cheese and sugar till smooth. add milk and eggs. beat till smooth and add remaining ingredients. fill cupcake papers to the top. sprinkle tops with pretzel mixture. bake at 350 for 18-20 min. allow to cool completely. remove paper and serve with or without toppings.

variations:
for salted caramel pretzel cheesecakes: before adding filling, drizzle mrs richardson’s caramel sauce lightly over crust. sprinkle with coarse salt. add filling. bake as directed. serve with a drizzle of mrs. richardson’s caramel sauce and a sprinkle of coarse salt. top with a dollop of cool whip.

strawberry lemon pretzel cheesecakes: to the filling, add the zest of 1 lemon and use 1 tbsp. lemon extract instead of vanilla. bake as directed. serve with a topping of fresh strawberries.

low sugar variation: replace splenda blend brown sugar for brown sugar in crust and truvia for sugar in the filling-works great!

whole cheesecake method: use 9 in. spring form pan. spray with pam. press crust into the bottom about a quarter in and up the sides about an inch. reserve remaining pretzel mixture for topping. fill with filling as above and sprinkle pretzel mixture lightly over the the top. bake at 350 for 50-60 min. cool completely. serve with toppings or not.

 

enjoy!

this post brought to you by pretzel crisps®

 pretzel crisps is giving away to 2 different winners: a bag of every deli flavor, a reusable tote, and some coupons to get more! follow the instructions on the rafflecopter below to enter. a Rafflecopter giveaway