JasmineRichelleBakes: Mini Raspberry Swirl Cheesecakes

We are almost finished with the berry bakes for April. We started with blackberries, then blueberries and now we are baking with raspberries. I wanted to bake with strawberries this week but when I went to a few stores they just didn't look great. I saw raspberries and thought to myself I can work with these. I decided to bake mini cheesecakes because I did not want to make a huge 9 inch cheesecake. Also mini versions of desserts just look so much cuter. Oh another reason is I literally had all of the ingredients in my fridge so I didn't have to buy anything extra.

Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes

Mini Cheesecake Filling

2 – 8 ounce packages of cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
2 eggs (room temperature)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt

Graham Cracker Crust

1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter
pinch of salt

Raspberry Puree

1 pint raspberries
1/3 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of water

Place your raspberries, sugar, and water in a blender, or food processor and blend together until you have no berry pieces.

I poured the puree through a sieve to remove the seeds (if you are into seeds you can skip this step)

I hate raspberry seeds, just strain them out

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray the inside wells of the mini cheesecake pan and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cup of graham cracker crumbs, the sugar and the salt.

Drizzle the melted butter over the crumb mixture and toss until the butter has coated all the crumbs.

Spoon the crumbs into each well of the pan and press the mixture flat into the bottom of each well.

make sure to flatten the crust down

Bake the crusts for about 10 minutes then remove them from the oven and set them aside to cool completely.

Reduce your oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Place the 16 ounces of cream cheese into the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until the cream cheese is smooth, scraping down the bowl several times.

Next, add the eggs one at a time and beat until each is incorporated.

I forgot to take picture of the egg, but you need to add them one at a time.

Add the heavy cream and the vanilla and beat for about a minute.

Cream Cream

Add the sugar and salt and beat well making sure you scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl so that all the cream cheese is incorporated.

I transfer this batter to a pitcher style measuring cup as I find it easier to pour the batter this way into the wells of the pan.

Divide the batter evenly between the 12 wells filling to the top of each well.

Using a spoon, add little dots of raspberry puree to the tops of your cheesecakes, then take a toothpick and swirl each top.

Bake for about 20 minutes until the cakes are set. Remove to a cooling rack.

The cheesecakes do puff up but once they cool they fall down a bit

Once the cheesecakes have cooled, I place them back in the refrigerator to chill completely before removing them from the pan. I have made the cheesecakes a day in advance as long as they are kept in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

I made a little ganache to top some of the cheesecakes and added a fresh raspberry on top of each mini cheesecake. I also added more of the raspberry puree to the the top of some cheesecakes and sprinkled some powdered sugar on top.