Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes

Ingredients

• 1/4 cups unsalted butter melted
• 8 graham crackers crushed
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2/3 cups heavy cream room temperature
• 2 large Eggs room temperature
• 24 ounces fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoons fresh lemon juice fresh is best
• 6 raspberries fresh

Instructions

1. 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. 2. Chill mini cheesecake pan, butter thoroughly, set aside in refrigerator.
3. 3. To make crust, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter.
4. 4. Using about 1/4 cup per well, press crumbs into bottoms of wells.
5. 5. Bake crusts for ten minutes. Let cool on wire rack for an hour. Turn oven off.
6. 6. To make raspberry filling, blend berries in blender or food processor until smooth, then press through sieve until seedless.
7. 7. Combine raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves.
8. 8. Remove from heat and let cool for an hour.
9. 9. To make cheesecake filling, whisk together sugar, vanilla, salt, and cream. Set aside.
10. 10. Using an electric mixer on medium, beat cream cheese until mostly smooth.
11. 11. Add sugar mixture and beat in. Add eggs and mix just until combined.
12. 12. Put raspberry sauce in a squeezy bottle.
13. 13. In each well, pour in 1/4 cup, then about a tablesp0on of berry. Make sure to keep the berry from reaching the edge of well. Then another 1/4 cup, then another layer of berry, then one last 1/4 cup of cheesecake batter. Try and keep about a centimeter of the well unfilled.
14. 14. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until cakes have risen to edge of well or just above. You want the edges to be firm, but not brown, and the center to still be wiggly. Rotate pan halfway through baking time.
15. 15. Let cakes cool in oven for 2 hours. Let cool for 2 more hours, then refrigerate overnight.
16. 16. Carefully, pop cakes up out from wells. Using a frosting spatula, carefully remove cakes from well bottoms. Place on desired serving dishes.
17. 16. Before serving, use remaining raspberry sauce, in a squeezy bottle, to swizzle decoratively over top of cakes. If desired, place 1 fresh raspberry atop each cake.