Little Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

I love cheesecake!  Matt and I had a friend over for dinner not too long ago and I wanted something somewhat simple to make for dessert that was still special and delicious.  I didn’t have the time or the ingredients to make a full-sized fancy cheesecake, so I decided to experiment a little and came up with this little, more basic cheesecake.  It was the perfect size for 3 people to share and there was 1 piece leftover to enjoy the next day.

This recipe does not come from one source.  It’s one of those that I kinda pulled different things from different places and tried to make what I pictured in my head.  That doesn’t always work but this time it did!

 

Little Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients for the Crust
1/3 c graham cracker crumbs
1 T sugar
1 T melted butter

Ingredients for the Filling
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 egg, room temperature

Ingredients for the Raspberry Sauce
(adapted from 2012 Our Best Bites calendar – Feb)
4 oz fresh raspberries
8 t sugar
3 t water, divided
1 t cornstarch

fresh raspberries for garnish

What To Do
First, you’ll need a small pie pan or something similar.  The one I have and used is 7 inches in diameter.  Preheat your oven to 325°F.

Crust: Melt the butter.  You can do this using the microwave (be sure to cover it to avoid any splatters) or on the stove or in the preheating oven.  Stir graham cracker crumbs (wanna make your own?), sugar and melted butter in a bowl until well combined.  Dump crumb mixture into the pie pan and gently press it down with the back of a spoon or your fingers to cover the bottom of the pan.  You might have enough to push some up the sides a little so go ahead and do so.  Bake for 5 minutes at 325°F.  Remove from oven and let cool while you make the filling.

Filling: Soften the cream cheese by letting it sit out to get to room temperature.  I do not recommend doing this, but if you have to, you can cut it into cubes and microwave it (try 30 seconds on high and stop it partway to check on it and stir if needed) to soften it.  Use a whisk or hand mixer to combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg.  Pour mixture into pie pan on top of the crust.  Spread it out evenly.  Bake for 20 – 25 minutes at 325°F.  You’ll know it’s done when it’s pretty much set but still jiggles a little bit in the middle.  Let it cool down and then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Raspberry Sauce: Place raspberries, sugar and 2 t water in a small saucepan on medium heat.  Stir occasionally, smashing berries with a spoon, until mixture comes to a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes.  In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and remaining 1 t water.  Add to sauce and stir constantly for 1 – 2 minutes until slightly thickened.  Pour sauce through a fine mesh strainer to remove seeds.

Serve: Loosen the outside edge of the cheesecake with a butter knife.  Cut the cheesecake into how many ever pieces you want.  I cut mine into 4.  Put a piece on a plate, drizzle with raspberry sauce and sprinkle fresh raspberries on top.

My Comments
I know raspberries aren’t exactly in season right now, but the store had some on clearance for 23 cents – I couldn’t pass that up!

A kitchen scale is very handy in figuring out how many raspberries to use.

You will most likely have leftover sauce.  You can store it in the fridge and it goes nicely on top of ice cream…or leftover chocolate Christmas candy.

The leftover piece we ate the next day was even better so if you can make this cheesecake a day ahead of time, you should.

 

Enjoy!