Monday, March 28, 2011

Mini White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecakes

 
Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. I can honestly say it's been a blast. 19 years of laughter and love and hopefully many more to come. 
We decided to keep our special day fairly low-key and enjoy it with our children. The weather was spectacular with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the high 70's. Perfect!
We started our day with a lovely brunch of salmon and different cheeses along with artisan bread, fruit and of course mimosas (for the adults). We spent the afternoon just hanging out on the back porch, reading and sharing a good bottle of wine. Our dinner was just as lovely and truly a combined effort. My husband grilled some nice looking T-bone steaks and fresh asparagus, while I made roasted herbed fingerling potatoes and my Favorite "Fancy" Salad. I knew I wanted something special for dessert and knowing how much my husband loves anything with fruit that's not too sweet, I thought a cheesecake would fit the bill. 



I found this great recipe on foodnetwork.com for a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. I did make a few changes to the written recipe and it turned out great. Instead of making one big cheesecake I thought it would be fun to make mini cheesecakes. There is something that appeals to me every time when presented with a "personal" dessert. The crust is simply composed of graham crackers and slivered almonds, ground up in a food-processor until well combined and mixed with butter. That's it, no extra sugar required, which I really liked considering the filling is quite rich. The cheesecake part is pretty much your average recipe, but is in enhanced with melted white chocolate which takes away a little more of the tartness of the cream cheese and leaves you with an incredible smooth mouth-feel with every bite. It also helps adjust the sweetness level since the filling only calls for a little more than 1/2 cup of sugar. To make my cheesecakes even more special, I decided to add dollops of seedless raspberry jam to each of my Mini Springfrom Pans and gently swirl it into the filling with a toothpick. The mini version of this dessert bakes up in just 25 minutes. You will however have to cool the cheesecakes in the refrigerator over night which really helps "set" the finished dessert.

We ate these fantastic cheesecakes with fresh raspberries on the side and they were indeed a fitting ending to a wonderful Anniversary! I think these cheesecakes would be wonderful for any occasion. I could definitely see them being served for baby showers, birthdays, a special dinner, or simply as the perfect dessert for the perfect husband!



Mini White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecakes
~makes 6 Mini Cheesecakes~

Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 cup slivered almonds
2 cups (7 ounces) graham crackers
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
7 ounces fine-quality white chocolate
4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam, slightly warm and whisked to remove any lumps
Fresh raspberries for decoration (optional)

Directions:
For the crust: Finely grind almonds and graham crackers in a food processor and add butter, blending until combined. Press over bottom and 2/3 up the sides of 6 mini springform pans*. Set aside.

For the filling: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a large metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth, and remove from heat.

Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer at medium speed until fluffy, then beat in sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well at low speed and scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Beat in flour and vanilla until just combined, then add melted chocolate in a slow stream, beating until filling is well combined.

Pour filling over crust. Add a couple of teaspoons of raspberry jam to each pan and gently swirl with a toothpick to get a marble effect being careful not to overmix.

Set mini-pans on a baking sheet and place in the middle of oven. Bake for about 25 minutes or until cake is set, but center is still wobbly when pans are shaken gently shaken.

Remove from oven, run a thin knife around edge of cake to loosen, then cool completely in pans on a rack. (Cake will continue to set as it cools). Serve chilled with additional raspberries if desired.

*Alternately you can just make this in a 10-inch springform pan. 

Adapted from: Foodnetwork



44 comments:

  1. You've done it again! Fabulous photos and a dessert I want to dive into :) Happy Anniversary, Susi!

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  2. Congratulations on 19 years of happiness. I completely agree that everuone loves to recieve their own personal dessert. What fun.

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  3. Happy Anniversary, Susi...you two are such a cute couple! And lovely little cheesecakes...no wonder your hubby is smiling so big in that pic. I love cheesecake, but hardly ever make it at home. This looks SO GOOD!

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  4. Happy Anniversary Susi!!! Your cheesecakes look wonderful. Raspberries are my favourite fruit, and I love having my own little individual dessert. They're beautiful!

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  5. Happy Anniversary, Suzi. I hope you had a fabulous celebration. I love your cheesecake. The swirl makes the cake look very springlike. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  6. Those look absolutely gorgeous! Seriously...wow

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  7. Happy Anniversary, Susi! You sound like you have a wonderful marriage and had a wonderful celebration. You can't go wrong with these gorgeous cheesecakes.

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  8. Happy anniversary! Great recipe. The flavors in this cheesecake pair perfectly.

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  9. These look amazing! Happy anniversary:)

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  10. Happy Anniversary! You make a great looking couple. I am sure that those cheesecakes were a great end to a great meal.

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  11. Omg! Definitely a keeper!! And Happy Anniversary!

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  12. Happy Anniversary!

    What lovely, little cheesecakes. Beautiful swirl and such a tasty mix of flavors.

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  13. Happy anniversary! You and your husband a re a beautiful couple. Your mini raspberry cheesecakes are perfect for a special anniversary and they look so good. I like the mini size!

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  14. Happy anniversary! Can you believe I have never made a cheesecake? (I'm not really a fan.) Isn't that shocking? I'm in NY, like, where the cheesecake was invited and I hardly eat it. It's a shame, really... Yours looks so delicious though!

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  15. Happy anniversary & congrats! I think my boyfriend would adore this cheesecake. I love mini cheesecakes because they are so much easier to make.

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  16. Happy Anniversary Susi, wish you many more years of happiness and laughter. Sounds like you had a wonderful day. The cheesecake look delicious. Love the raspberry swirl.

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  17. happy anniversary looks fabulous lovely dessert

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  18. Happy Anniversary, Susi..I wish you many many more!!!!
    Your mini cheesecake look incredible and super tasty!!

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  19. I am in love with your cheesecakes, my husband would love them too! he likes fruity desserts (unlike me who can eat the richest sweetest things). I'll have to save these and try. The small version is so cute :)

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  20. Happy anniversary guys! It's always so nice to see couples lasting so long and being so happy! And oh my...you sure had a great dessert to celebrate. These mini cheesecakes look absolutely fantastic!

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  21. Those cheesecakes are gorgeous! I really love those little springform pans. And happy anniversary to you two lovebirds.

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  22. What a great picture of you and your husband. Happy Anniversary! I love individual desserts too and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake is my personal favorite. Looks beautiful.

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  23. Happy Anniversary to a cute couple! Those little cheesecakes are gorgeous! :)

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  24. Happy 19th anniversary! Your cheesecakes look wonderful. I love your mini tins.

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  25. Photos are fantastic! Mini but fine!
    Happy Anniversary!

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  26. Happy Anniversary and many more to come. Your cake looks absolutely stunning!

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  27. Wow! These look scrumptious. I'm definitely bookmarking this recipe!

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  28. The swirls are so pretty! Happy Anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  29. Sounds like you had a glorious anniversary, Susi! Congratulations! Your cheesecake looks completely fantastic, too. The photos in this post are just beautiful. Those last two close-ups of the cheesecakes are really exceptional. Bright, clear, gorgeous!

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  30. Happy wishes to you and your husband. Congratulations on so many years of faithfulness and love. What a great way to celebrate too! Thanks for sharing, my dear friend. It feels good to return to the blogs I love after such a hard and trying week. Your words and photographs bring a smile to my face.

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  31. Such gorgeous little cheesecakes, Susi. Love the swirl design on the top.

    Happy Anniversary to you and your hubby. You look like a beautiful couple, so happy, and still in love after 19 years of marriage!

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  32. Wow. That swirl looks so gorgeous! Good looking cheesecakes! Happy Anniversary!

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  33. Happy anniversary!!! You look like a wonderful couple!

    I love that you turned these into mini cheesecakes. So much better than one big one I think. Yum!

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  34. Looks fabulous...one of my favorite types of cheesecakes!

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  35. Happy Anniversary!! Love raspberry cheesecake!!

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  36. Happy Anniversary Susi! The cheesecakes are gorgeous! I love that you made the individual size too - so cute!

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  37. Happy anniversary to you and your husband! THese cheesecakes look gorgeous!

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  38. Aww Happy Anniversary! These look fabulous! If you don't mind me asking, what kind of camera do you use? Your pictures are soo beautiful!

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  39. Kelly - my camera is a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS. It is pretty much a step below a DLSR (which I'm hoping to buy eventually). It lets you shoot in automatic mode or manual mode which is really nice. I really like this camera. Thanks for your nice comment :o)

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  40. Oh, Susi!!! I'm really liking the personal desserts in place of one big one cut into pieces. Beautiful deserts, and your photos perfectly captured them. I definitely have photograph envy!
    Happy Anniversary to you both, sounds like you had a lovely day! (I've been out of touch and am a bit late in comments this week!)

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  41. Congratulations on your wedding anniversary;-)
    I'm loving these individual cheesecakes and you've photographed them beautifully. They really are over the top gorgeous;-)

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