Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bite-lettes

Here I begin a new post after a three-week blogging hiatus, due to my wisdom tooth removal, and then moving back up to Humboldt for school. I got my tooth out August 1^st (that was not a fun experience, as I got dry socket causing it to become a much more painful healing process than normal), I had my last week at the bakery the 5^th-8^th (I missed two days of that week due to my wisdom tooth pain), and then moved back up to my school house on the 11^th so I’ve been pretty busy getting settled in again, and unable to keep up with my blog postings until now! Alrighty…Well chocolate and raspberry (two flavors that have always gone well together in my opinion) have been in the back of my mind lately. I wanted to try making a non-gelatin chocolate raspberry mousse tart at the bakery that I never got around to experimenting with, so I think that is was dissatisfaction from there that kept the flavor pair on my brainstorming board. I was looking through the cupboards of my Humboldt house, when I came across these cute little tart molds that my boyfriend’s mom gave to me last year, and I had still yet to use them…so I figured, why not do little cheesecake bites? I also have a ton of raspberry jam that my mom made while I was home in Marin, so I decided to make it into a chocolate raspberry swirl-like cheesecake bite! When I tried using the little tin molds, I didn’t really like that you wouldn’t be able to remove the cheesecakes after they were done, so I only made a few in those, and then used a mini cupcake pan for the rest. These are quite rich, so it turns out well that they are small because you can have one (or two :-P) and not feel completely sick afterwards—like I usually do after eating any amount of cheesecake—. I topped them off with some freshly made vanilla whipped cream, and a raspberry for presentation points (ha!), but they are completely delicious/fine without the extra step.

Ingredients:

1 box Chocolate graham crackers (I couldn’t find them at the store, so I used Chocolate Teddy Grahams, and they were fine-used about half the box)

1 tablespoons room temperature butter

2 packages of 8 oz. cream cheese

3/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs (room temperature is best)

½ cup raspberry jam

(optional topping):

½ cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

2-3 tsp sugar

1 pint raspberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Stick the graham crackers in a freezer Ziploc bag, and crush them with a rolling pin (or any other crushing device will do).

Using a pastry cutter, mix the cookie crumbs with the butter, and press into whichever molds you are deciding to use in an even layer. Bake for about 5 minutes until lightly crisped up. Meanwhile, start the filling.

Whip the cream cheese in the bowl of stand mixer until creamy. Add the sugar and cocoa powder, and vanilla, and mix on medium until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Add one egg at a time, and beat until you have a smooth filling.

Using a small spoon, portion the cheesecake filling into your molds, leaving room for a raspberry jam swirl. Using a teaspoon, place a small dollop of jam on top of the chocolate filling, and swirl with a toothpick. Place each mold onto a baking sheet, and bake about 20 minutes until the filling is set.

Remove from oven, and let cool on a wire rack before transferring to the fridge to chill for at least half an hour. Once they have chilled, either attempt removing them from your molds, or leave them. (The ones in the cupcake pan had papers, so they were easy to remove). To make the whipped cream topping, beat half a cup of heavy whipping cream with vanilla and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until thick and creamy (and can stand up to being piped). Using a pastry bag or a ziploc bag, pipe a generous dollop of whipped cream onto the cheesecake bites, and top with a single raspberry.

A for effort on presentation, and they turn out into the cutest little cheesecakes. But of course if your audience doesn’t care about the extra floof, skip the last bit (or use canned whipped cream if you’re feeling lazy). Like I said, pretty rich and decadent, but an easy and classy dessert that you can whip up in a fairly quick pinch (just allow enough time for them to cool completely…because let’s face it, warm cheesecake is a little weird). Enjoy!