Rasberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Good news! I found my camera. Even better news: this recipe! If you love cheesecake then be careful to not eat all of these. I had to make my husband take the cheesecakes to work so that I didn't inhale them all before he even got home that night. This was a fantastic idea and they turned out tasty. Not the prettiest cheesecake/cupcakes but definitely the best flavor ever!! I know on Annie's website she says that the water bath is not needed but if you want taste and presentation, I think it very much IS needed. Mine became concave after cooling and did crack on most of them. It wasn't too noticeable and they still tasted wonderful so it's totally up to the chef's preferences.

Rasberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Adapted from: Annie's Eats, originally Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

For the crust

1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
4½ Tbsp butter, melted
3 Tbsp sugar

For the topping
6 oz fresh raspberries
2 Tbsp sugar

For the filling
2 lbs cream cheese, at room temperature (32 oz)
1½ cups sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place cupcake liners in muffin pan and lightly grease. Mix all ingredients well for the crust. Place 1 Tbsp of crust mixture in each paper liner. Press with cup (or I used my 1/4 cup measurer and that worked perfect) to press graham cracker crust into cup. Bake until crust is set, about 5 minutes, and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, mix cream cheese in stand mixer on medium-high until fluffy. Add in the sugar until fully incorporated. Repeat with salt and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Be sure the mixture doesn't have any cream cheese chunks. This may require you to continue to mix and scrape the sides of the mixing bowl.

While mixer is blending, place rasberries and sugar in food processor and blend until it becomes a liquid consistency. Place a bowl under a mesh sieve and press liquid through to remove all the seeds. Set aside.

Place 1/4 cup of cheesecake mixture into muffin cups on top of crust. Drop a small amount of rasberry liquid on top (about 1/4-1/2 tsp) and swirl with a toothpick. Bake until cheescake is set, about 22 minutes, rotating halfway into the baking time. Cupcakes will be convex when removed from the oven but once they cool, they will go down. Leave in muffin pan for at least 5 minutes to cool then transfer to cooling rack. Note: I tried to remove them before the 5 minutes and they totally fell apart and were not "set" yet so I highly recommend waiting. Place in the fridge for at least 4 hours and enjoy!