White chocolate raspberry mini cheesecake recipe

I needed a quick dessert for Poppa’s fathers day dinner and he loves cheesecake and it loves him.  In order to help him with portion control I decided to make them minis.  They were so delicious and after one or two his sweet tooth was satisfied.

This recipe was inspired by some beautiful raspberries I came across at Whole Foods. They looked and smelled heavenly and so here we are.

What you will need:
For the bottom crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tbsp unsalted butter melted
3 tbsp sugar

For the raspberry topping
1/2 cup of fresh raspberries
2 tbsp sugar

For the cheese cake part:
1 1/2 packages cream cheese, cut into cubes
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (I use Neisen Massey)
2 ounces good quality white chocolate, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Crush enough graham crackers in your food processor or blender to make a cup and a half.  In most boxes of crackers the cookies are divided into packs, I used one whole pack which I think is about 1/4 of the box.  Mix in the butter and sugar and add a heaping tablespoon to each cupcake liner.

 Using the bottom of a small glass tamp the cracker crumbs all down.  Bake for 5 minutes then set aside to cool.

 Now lower the oven temp to 325 degrees. This is my favorite white chocolate and it melts so easy.

 Put your chocolate in the microwave or on the stove top and melt very gently.  In the microwave you should check it every 10 seconds and stir.

 To make the raspberry puree, put the berries and sugar in the blender and blend until smooth.  Put through a sieve to strain out the seeds and set aside.  This puree in itself would be enough dessert for me but I was making this for Poppa and you didn’t read this far just to eat raspberries so lets keep going.

Into your mixer add the cream cheese, mix until smooth.  Slowly add the sugar and then the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and the melted chocolate.  Beat until no lumps are seen.  Ladle the cream cheese mixture into the cups.  Drop a few dots of raspberry puree on the tops of the cheesecakes.

 With a toothpick, run the toothpick lightly over the raspberry puree swirling it around for a marbled effect.

 Bake for 18-22 minutes or until set rotating them after about 10 minutes to ensure they are baking evenly.  (When you pull them out of the oven,  the cheesecakes will have puffed up, they will quickly go back to normal so no worries). Transfer the mini cheesecakes to a cooling rack and allow them to reach room temperature before putting them in the refrigerator.  Leave them in the fridge until cold at least one hour.

 Enjoy.