Raspberry Marble Cheesecake Cupcakes

Have you ever looked through the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Recipe book? She has so many cute and yummy-looking recipes. Andrew's cousin invited us over for Christmas dinner so I picked out this recipe and gave it a try.


Ingredients (makes 32 cupcakes so I cut everything in half and made 16):

1 1/2 cups Graham Crackers, finely ground (About 12 sheets)
3 tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted
1 1/2 cups + 5 tbsp Sugar
1 container (6 oz) Fresh Raspberries
2 lbs Cream Cheese, room temp.
Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
4 Eggs, room temp.

Preheat oven to 325. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Mix graham crackers with 3 tbsp of sugar followed by the butter. Spoon about 1 tbsp of the mixture into the paper liners and press firmly to the bottom. Bake for about 5 minutes.

Use a food processor to puree the raspberries until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve. Discard the seeds. Whisk in 2 tbsp of sugar into the strained raspberries. Set aside.

Beat the cream cheese at medium high speed until fluffy. Reduce to low speed and add 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a steady stream. Add a pinch of salt and the vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated. Next, add the eggs one at a time, waiting until the previous egg is incorporated before adding the next.

Spoon 3 tbsp of cream cheese mixture into each paper lining followed by 1/2 tsp of raspberry puree. Use a toothpick to swirl the puree to create marbleized effect.

From bottom: graham cracker crust, cheesecake mixture, drops of raspberry puree, swirled around with a toothpick.

If you have a roasting pan large enough for the muffin tin to fit in, fill it with water to create a sort of bath for the tin. This promotes even baking. If you don't, you can heat up some water on the stove, pour it in an oven-safe pan and place it on the rack directly below the one your muffin tin is on. (Does that make sense?)

Bake for about 22 minutes rotating halfway. Allow to cool completely and refrigerate for 4 hours before serving to allow the cheesecake to set.

These look a little sad because I not-very-carefully tore the paper off. Using my new fancy mixer, I whipped up some unsweetened whipped cream and added a fresh raspberry on top. The cake is already sweet, so no need to sweeten the whipped cream. It'd also look cute with a sprig of mint!

For a better picture, check out Sako's blog!