Bourbon-Caramel Cheesecake Bites

What You Need:

• 8 square shortbread cookies, finely crushed (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1-1/2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese (12 oz.), softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. bourbon, divided
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 egg
• 12 KRAFT Caramels
• 1 Tbsp. milk

Make It:

• Heat oven to 325ºF.
• Combine cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottoms of 24 paper-lined mini muffin cups, adding about 1 tsp. crumb mixture into each cup.
• Beat cream cheese, sugar, and 1 Tbsp. bourbon in a large bowl with mixer until blended. Use a sharp knife to gently split vanilla bean pod lengthwise in half. Scrape seeds into cream cheese mixture; mix well. Add egg; beat on low speed just until blended.
• Spoon cream cheese mixture into prepared muffin cups, adding about 1 Tbsp. batter to each cup.
• Bake 12 to 14 min. or until centers of cheesecakes are almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 1 hour.
• Microwave caramels and milk in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until caramels are completely melted, stirring every 30 sec. Stir in remaining bourbon. Drizzle about 1 tsp. caramel sauce over each cheesecake. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Substitute:

Prepare using PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese.

Variation:

Omit the bourbon.

Substitute:

Substitute 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract for the vanilla bean seeds.