Get ready to salivate.  Because these white chocolate raspberry mini cheesecakes are divine!  My friend Laina is a very daring chef, always trying to come up with different recipes based on what she does or doesn’t have in her pantry at the time.  Unfortunately, many times her attempts are a complete disaster (though they do provide for great stories). But every once in a while, she’ll end up with something spectacular.  And this is one of those recipes.

We first had and fell in love with these little bites of delight at our Simple, Grown-Up Christmas Party this past year.  So when I needed a special dessert for our Gender Reveal Party, I had Laina send me the recipe.  They were again a huge hit (people were sneaking 3 and 4 when they thought the rest of us weren’t looking), and I decided to also use them for Henry’s Wheels on the Bus 2nd Birthday Party.  People kept raving and asking for the recipe, and so, with Laina’s permission, I’m sharing it with you.  As far as cheesecakes go, it’s a pretty simple recipe, and you can make it ahead of time, which is a huge benefit when preparing lots of food for an event. They freeze well (without the raspberries) and last about 5 days total in the fridge (though I wouldn’t make them  more than 2 days in advance).  So without any further ado….White Chocolate Raspberry Mini Cheesecake!
 

White Chocolate Raspberry Mini Cheesecakes

Crust:
10 oz Nilla Wafer cookies
1/2 cup butter, melted

Filling:
3 8oz packages of cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 oz white chocolate, melted
seedless raspberry jam (approximately 1 1/2 cups)

Topping:
2 c sour cream
1/3 c powder sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Line cupcake tin with aluminum liners (remove paper liners).

Crush cookies and mix with melted butter.  Press into muffin tins and refrigerate while making the cheesecake.

Beat cream cheese until fluffy.  Add sugar, vanilla, and white chocolate, mixing until smooth.  Reduce mixer to lowest setting and slowly add eggs one at
a time, mixing until smooth.

Place a small dollop of raspberry jam (approximately 1 tsp per muffin tin) in each cup, then top with the cream cheese filling.  Bake 20 minutes, or until set, and cool.

While the cheesecakes are baking, mix the sour cream and powdered sugar until smooth.  When the cheesecakes have cooled and the centers have dropped, top with the sour cream mixture.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Garnish with raspberries and white chocolate as desired when ready to serve.

NOTES:

I’ve made these a few times now, and they’re always pretty ugly when they come out of the oven. And even more ugly after they have cooled.  I don’t know if ugly cheesecakes are an issue that other people have as well, but if yours are, don’t worry.  They will be very pretty once the sour cream mixture is spread on top.

Secondly, do not use white chocolate chips.  They never melt well. Instead use Baker’s White Chocolate Baking Squares or a white chocolate baking candy bar (Ghirardelli makes a great one!) They will melt much better and make your life so much happier.

Click here to download a recipe card

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Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

There are some combinations that are simply divine:  Chocolate and peanut butter.  Caramel and Salt.  Bread and cheese.  Butter and everything.  And I’d like to argue that pumpkin and cheesecake is one of them.  A few years ago, I found a couple different cheesecake recipes and combined them to come up with a pumpkin cheesecake recipe that our family loves.  It quickly became a staple holiday dessert (and an anytime you need an awesome dessert dessert).  I recently was in charge of snacks for our Bible study and thought that pumpkin cheesecake would be perfect.  But I also knew we’d never eat an entire cheesecake.  So I decided to try my hand at mini cheesecake instead–we could eat what we wanted, then freeze the rest to pull out whenever I had a late night craving (which is pretty much every night). I love how they turned out, and with Thanksgiving being this week, I thought it was the perfect time to share.

There are 3 parts to this recipe: the crust, the cheesecake and the sour cream topping.

Ingredients (Crust):

• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup ground pecans
• 2 tblspn white sugar
• 2 tblspn brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan with baking cups.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, pecans, sugars and butter and mix well.  Press about 2 Tblsps of mixture firmly into the bottom of each baking cup.

Ingredients (Cheesecake):

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
• 3/8 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tblspn whipping cream
• 1 tblspn cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

• 16 oz sour cream
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

In a separate bowl, combine sour cream, sugar, and vanilla in mixer, beating until smooth.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  About five minutes before the cheesecakes are done, spread a layer of the sour cream mixture over the top. Bake for additional 5 minutes. Cool cheesecakes on wire rack, then refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve.

To make a regular sized cheesecake, bake for 50-55 minutes.