Tropical flavored, creamy, and smooth, these Cuban Mini Lime and Guava Cheesecakes will make your taste buds want to come back for more.
Best of all, these bite-sized individual desserts are no-bake and only take 30 minutes to make!
Mini desserts are super fun, especially cheesecakes. They also happen to be my favorite sweet treats. What’s not to love about a luxurious, creamy cake surrounded by a sweet graham cracker or cookie crust?
These mini lime cheesecakes with guava sauce are perfect for holidays like Valentine's Day, dinner parties, summer cookouts, and to help with portion control; however, there’s no stopping you from eating four of them in one sitting!
Because I am a cheesecake fanatic, I pay meticulous attention to my cheesecake's consistency, the balance of ingredients, and appearance. You can always buy a pre-made crust in the store, but I love to make mine from scratch.
Be sure to check out my other delicious cheesecake recipes like tiramisu cheesecake, baklava cheesecake fusion, and brownie pumpkin cheesecake.
📃 Why it Works
- No-Bake: A no-bake dessert is always a winner for me as it means I can free up my oven. Perfect if you are planning to serve these as part of a bigger feast.
- Make ahead: These cute individual desserts can be made several days ahead of time, so they are ideal for special occasions and holidays.
- Quick: It only takes 30 minutes to make up a batch of these lime guava cheesecakes, so you have no excuse to give them a try!
- Easy: Because they're so easy to make, these little cheesecake pies can be doubled or tripled to serve a crowd.
What is Guava?
This tropical fruit is native to Mexico and Central America and has started to be introduced to other regions, such as South Florida. It's wonderfully sweet and full of flavor.
Brazilians eat guava paste (Goiabada or Pasta de Guayaba) with Minas cheese, a combination they refer to as "Romeo and Juliet."
To Cubans, guava paste is as important for El Sanguibin (Thanksgiving) as pumpkin is to us.
Just for fun, I’ll mention that guavas are high in fiber and vitamin C, but I don’t want to fool you into thinking that these mini cheesecakes are a “healthy dessert option.” It is drizzled right on top of the classic cheesecake, so don’t fool yourself!
🛒 Ingredients and Notes
- Maria Cookies: Maria cookies are very popular in Latin America. They are thin and dry, and slightly sweet. You can use graham crackers if you can't find Maria cookies.
- Vanilla Extract: If you can, use pure vanilla rather than imitation. The taste is so much better.
- Lime: you can use regular or key lime.
- Guava Paste: Guava paste is fairly readily available in most stores, Kroger, Target, and Walmart all sell it. It's usually found in the world food aisle. It's wonderfully thick and sweet and works so well with the tangy cheesecake.
🔪 Instructions
Crust
- Generously grease the mini cheesecake pan or line a muffin tin with paper liners and grease them with nonstick cooking spray (if you’re using ring molds, line with parchment paper).
- Add Maria cookies to a food processor and pulse until the cookies are crushed into fine crumbs. Add melted butter and process to combine. The mixture should have the consistency of wet sand.
- Place about a heaping tablespoon of the cookie mixture into the bottom of each cavity. Press the mixture down firmly to form the crust.
Cheesecake
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add in the cream, vanilla, lime zest, and juice and continue beating until well combined and thickened.
- Distribute the mixture evenly over crusts. Refrigerate.
Guava Sauce
- In a small saucepan, add guava paste and water. Use medium heat to melt the guava paste, occasionally stirring, until smooth.
- Let guava cool down, but don't let it solidify.
- Using a spoon, pour the melted guava paste over the cheesecakes and refrigerate before serving. Remove from the pan and top with freshly whipped cream if desired.
👩🍳 Top Tips
- I used my mini cheesecake pan for this recipe because the bottoms are removable, so you can easily pop them out. You can also use a muffin tin with paper liners or small ring molds.
- Instead of mini cheesecakes, make a traditional cheesecake in a 9-inch pie pan.
- Press the cookie crumbs down firmly into each mold. You can use your fingers, a shot glass (works great!), or another small object.
- I try to brush off any stray crumbs sticking to the sides so that my cheesecake layer comes out clean.
- To easily combine cream cheese with the other ingredients, it should be softened before using it. I like to take it out of the fridge about an hour before I plan on making these guava cheesecakes.
- I prefer to mix the filling in a stand mixer, but you can mix it by hand if you prefer. It will take a little longer, and make sure the ingredients are smooth and well combined.
- To distribute the cheesecake layer, I use an ice cream scoop/dipper. It takes about 1 ½ - 2 scoops, depending on the pan you're using.
- Once you have made your mini lime and guava cheesecakes, let them sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
It's easy to make these mini guava cheesecakes gluten-free. You can get GF Maria cookies or graham crackers to make the base of the cheesecake. The rest of the dessert is gluten-free, so perfect for anyone who has an intolerance.
These lime and guava cheesecakes will keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days, although they are at their best within a day or 2. If you make them more than 3 or 4 hours ahead of time, cover the cheesecakes with plastic wrap or place them in an airtight container.
All cheesecakes are best made with full-fat cream cheese. It's richer and thicker and will make for a much tastier and satisfying dessert. They will still turn out well with low-fat cream cheese, but for me, it has to be full fat all the way!
😋 Other Amazing Recipes to Try
- No-Bake Eggnog Gingersnap Cheesecake Cake
- Key Lime Ribbon Cheesecake
- Corsican Lemon Cheesecake - Fiadone
- No-Bake Kefir Blueberry Cheesecake
- Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Use up leftover guava paste in these recipes:
- Mexican Guava Charlotte
- Brazilian Guava and Salted Caramel Pie
- Puerto Rican Sweet and Savory Guava Dip
Liked this recipe? Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and/or a review in the comments section. Your feedback is always appreciated! Stay in touch through Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook! Don't forget to sign up for my email list below too!
Mini Lime and Guava Cheesecakes (no-bake)
Equipment
- Food processor
- stand mixer
- Mini cheesecake pan or a muffin tin
- small saucepan
Ingredients
For the crust
- 15 Maria cookies or 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 4 tablespoon butter melted
For the filling
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- zest of 1 lime
- 1 cup heavy cream
For guava sauce
- 7 ounces guava paste (about 3 wedges)
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
Crust
- Generously grease the mini cheesecake pan or line a muffin tin with paper liners and grease them with nonstick cooking spray (if you are using ring molds, line with parchment paper).
- Add Maria cookies to a food processor and pulse until the cookies are crushed into fine crumbs. Add melted butter and process to combine. The mixture should have the consistency of wet sand.
- Place about a heaping tablespoon of the cookie mixture into the bottom of each cavity. Press the mixture down firmly to form the crust.
Cheesecake filling
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add in the cream, vanilla, lime zest, and juice and continue beating until well combined and thickened.
- Distribute the mixture evenly over the crusts. Refrigerate.
Guava sauce
- In a small saucepan, add guava paste and water. Use medium heat to melt the guava paste, occasionally stirring, until smooth.
- Let guava cool down, but don't let it solidify.
- Using a spoon, pour the melted guava paste over the cheesecakes and refrigerate before serving. Remove from the pan and top with freshly whipped cream if desired.
Expert Tips
- I used my mini cheesecake pan for this recipe because the bottoms are removable, so you can easily pop them out. You can also use a muffin tin with paper liners or small ring molds.
- Instead of mini cheesecakes, make a traditional cheesecake in a 9-inch pie pan.
- Press the cookie crumbs down firmly into each mold. You can use your fingers, a shot glass (works great!), or another small object.
- I try to brush off any stray crumbs sticking to the sides so that my cheesecake layer comes out clean.
- To easily combine cream cheese with the other ingredients, it should be softened before using it. I like to take it out of the fridge about an hour before I plan on making these guava cheesecakes.
- I prefer to mix the filling in a stand mixer, but you can mix it by hand if you prefer. It will take a little longer, and make sure the ingredients are smooth and well combined.
- To distribute the cheesecake layer, I use an ice cream scoop/dipper. It takes about 1 ½ - 2 scoops, depending on the pan you're using.
- Once you have made your mini lime and guava cheesecakes, let them sit in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in July 2018 and updated in January of 2021 with new photos and recipe tips.
Anna says
Thank you for the recipe! I have made this 2 times and attempting again tomorrow- it has been delicious but both times I cannot get it to set / firm up like a cheesecake should be - could you give me some tips on this? I’m making again in the morning for a ladies party and crossing my fingers it will magically turn out Thank you!!
Jas says
I'm so sorry you're having trouble setting the cheesecake layer, Anna. Make sure you're using full-fat cream cheese (I think I used the Philadelphia brand) and real butter. Some "butter" versions always stay soft and are unsuitable for no-bake cheesecakes. Also, when you add heavy cream and other ingredients, mix until stiff peaks form (see the process photos in the post above the recipe box). You could also reduce the lime juice to a half (it won't alter the taste much). If all fails, you can always add a bit of gelatin powder (start with 1/2 tablespoon following the package instructions). I hope this helps. Good luck!
Maria Brown says
I picked up some guava paste to experiment with and came across your recipe during my search for ways to use it. I must say this recipe is simple and easy to follow and the end result is delicious. I have made this 3 times in as many weeks! Did not have graham cracker crumbs the 2nd and 3rd time so I got creative and used Kirkland Animal Crackers. To me they taste like there is some ginger in there and in my opinion worked out beautifully. The cream cheese filling I could seriously eat a bowlful. The combination of the filling and the guava paste is amazing. It got me thinking it would make a great filling for crepes! Thanks for giving us a new family favorite dessert.
Jas says
Hi, Maria! I'm so happy you enjoyed these mini cheesecakes! You're right - the filling would be great in crepes (*making a mental note to self). 🙂 I hope you'll try and like my other recipes with guava paste. Have a great day!