Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C).

Stir together the crushed graham crackers, granulated sugar, and melted butter until it is fully combined and resembles moist sand.

Place six 4″ tart pans with removable bottoms on a baking sheet. Press the crumbs into the tart pans using a 1/4″ measuring cup to press into the sides and bottoms firmly. Make sure the crumbs are as tightly pressed as possible.

Bake the tart shells for 6-7 minutes.

Cool the shells on the baking sheet before filling. Lower the oven temp to 325 F (163 C).

While the shells are cooling down, beat the cream cheese with a mixer until it is smooth. Add the sugar  and salt and continue mixing until combined. Add the egg yolks and vanilla. Mix just until combined and finish off with a spatula to make sure everything is evenly combined. (You don’t want to over mix at this stage or the egg yolks will gain volume and cause cracking in the final cheesecakes.)

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they reach soft peaks. (Not stiff peaks.) Add the beaten egg whites to the cream cheese mixture and gently fold in until combined. (Be careful not to over fold and cause the egg whites to deflate.)

Evenly scoop the cheesecake filling into the graham cracker tart shells and gently smooth out the surfaces. A cookie scoop is a really helpful tool with scooping the filling, and an offset spatula is helpful for smoothing them out.

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 325 F (163 C) until set but jiggly. They will deflate as they cool and look slightly wrinkly on top.

Cool the cheesecakes at room temperature for about an hour before topping them with the whipped sour cream topping.

To make the topping, whisk together the sour cream, granulated sugar, kosher salt, and vanilla bean paste. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream with the powdered sugar until it reaches stiff peaks. Gently fold the whipped cream into the sour cream mixture until combined, but don’t over mix.

Smooth the whipped sour cream topping over the tops of the cooled cheesecakes. Cover and refrigerate overnight to fully set.

When ready to serve, remove the cheesecakes from the tart pans. Be very delicate, because the graham cracker crumb crust is barely being held together. If you’d like, make the whipped cream. Combine the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, kosher salt, and vanilla and beat with a hand mixer (or whisk) until you reach stiff peaks. Place the whipped cream into a piping bag with whatever fancy tip you’d like to use and pipe onto the cheesecakes any way you’d like. I like to do one dollop in the middle or a bunch all around the edge of the cheesecake.