To make the crust:Preheat the oven to 350º. 

Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners and set aside--no need to grease the muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, combine the crushed cookies and the sugar. Mix a little to combine. 

Pour the melted butter over the crumbs and stir until evenly moistened and the mixture clumps a little.

Divide the crumbs between the 12 muffin cups. It'll be a little over a tablespoon for each muffin cup. Using your fingers, a spoon, or a little crust tamper, press down the crumbs into the muffin pan. Make sure the crust is compact and even.

Bake at 350º for 5-7 minutes until the crusts look lightly browned around the edges.

Remove the crusts from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325º.

Set the crusts aside while you make the cheesecake filling.

To make the cheesecake filling:In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and fluffy.

Add in the sour cream and mix well to combine.

Next, add in the sugar and beat until well incorporated.

Use a rubber spatula to give the sides and bottom of the bowl a good scrape. Make sure to scrape the stuff off your mixer paddle too!

Stir in the vanilla extract and the lemon juice. Give the cheesecake batter a quick taste to see if it needs more tang from the lemon, or if it needs a little more warmth from vanilla. 

Finally, add in your eggs one at time, allowing each egg to be almost mixed in completely before adding the next. 

Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and bottom to ensure everything is well combined. Give a final quick stir by hand.

Divide the batter between the mini cheesecake crusts. It'll be about 1/4 cup per muffin cavity. These will be pretty full, but not too full that you can't see the paper liners. If your muffin pan is a little on the shallow side, you may have some batter leftover.

Bake at 325º for 18-20 minutes until the cakes have puffed up like muffins, jiggle slightly, and have not browned.

When the cheesecakes are done baking, turn off the oven and leave the oven door open a crack (you can use a wooden spoon or oven mitt to prop the door open) for 30 minutes. Leave the cakes inside the oven.

After the cakes have cooled down in the oven, remove and let them finish cooling completely before popping them in the fridge. Allow the cakes to chill in the fridge for a minimum of 5 hours, but preferably overnight.

The centers will sink--but that's good! We need that for our strawberry sauce.

To make the strawberry topping for the mini cheesecakes:In a small sauce pot, combine the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and dash of salt.

Over medium to medium high heat, bring the strawberry mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer the strawberries uncovered for about 20-25 minutes, stirring every once and a while. The strawberries will break down, the juices will thicken (and coat a spoon), and the syrup will be a deep red color. 

Break up any strawberry pieces that are too large and pour the sauce into a container. Allow to cool completely and store in the fridge. The sauce will thicken more as it chills. 

To Serve:Remove the cheesecakes from the fridge and carefully remove the paper liners. Top the center of each cake with a little strawberry sauce and serve.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.