Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

What a mouthful! But a good one at that ;) This little recipe I took from a new cookbook I got (thanks to a recommendation from Louise!) by Martha Stewart. The book is called 'Cupcakes'. If you are at all interested in making all different kinds of cupcakes you should definitely pick up this book. I will be posting a couple different recipes from it in the next week.

Here's the recipe,

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups finely ground graham crackers
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups plus 5 tablespoons sugar
1 container (6 oz) fresh raspberries
2 pounds (4 cups) cream cheese, room temperature
pinch salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
cupcake papers

Method:

Preheat your oven to 325F. Line your muffin tin with cupcake papers and set aside. Take your graham crackers, butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar and mix them together. With a spoon or whatever utensil you want, press 1 tablespoon of the crust mixture firmly into the bottom of each lined muffin paper. Once your finished, put the tins in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Process raspberries in a food processor until smooth (about 30 seconds). Pass the puree through a sieve into a small bowl, and get as much liquid out as possible. You can throw out the solids. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of sugar.

With the electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the cream cheese until it's fluffy.

Now set your mixer to low speed and add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a steady stream. Add your salt and vanilla and mix until everything is well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each one.

Your filling is now ready for your muffin tins! Spoon in about 3 tablespoons of filling over your crust in each cup. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry puree on each cake. Now comes the fun part! With a toothpick or other such device, swirl the raspberry sauce through the filling in whatever design you like!

Place each tin in a roasting pan filled with enough hot water to come 3/4's of the way up sides of the cups. You may have to do this in several batches (I did). Half way through baking, rotate the pan so you ensure even cooking. Bake for about 22 minutes or until filling looks set.

Once they are done, just put them on a wire rack to cool. Once they are fully cooled down, make sure you put these in the fridge for at least 4 hours so they finish setting.

And that is it! Hopefully you enjoy these guys, they are pretty easy and look nice too!