Mini Blackberry Cheesecakes

The blackberries in my backyard are ripen and I’ve been picking them daily for a couple of weeks now. What did I do with them? I’ve been making blackberry smoothie e-v-e-r-y day (mix with strawberry or beet or pineapple with OJ and yogurt). And for the hubby, he loves to eat them fresh with cool whip on top! That’s just his style.

The hubby has been asking me to make him cheesecake for quite sometimes now. So, I decided to fulfill his quest for cheesecake. Luckily, there are still some berries left for me to pick for a few day, and I’m thinking of making mini blackberry cheesecakes before they are completely gone.  Sounds good, right?

But first, I’m making blackberry sauce with the berries the hubby picked yesterday. After that, I just add the sauce into the cheesecake batter, and also, for the topping. I made approx. 2 cups of sauce, but would use only 1/4 cup for the cheesecakes. The sauce can be used for pancakes, waffles or ice cream or whatever you like!

 

The result? I would try not to be over-the-top here for these cheesecakes, but they are sooooooooooo gooooooooooooooood!   Not too sweet, yet creamy still with the hint of Greek yogurt that you can taste it.   The additional sauce on the top that bleeding through the cheesecake is…...hmmm…...........
I have two words, heavenly delicious!!!  

Blackberry sauce:

2 1/2 cups fresh blackberry
Juice + zest from 1 orange
1 cup sugar

: add everything in the sauce pan over medium heat and cook until the berries are soften and broken down for about 15 minutes
: strain the sauce through the fine strainer and discard the seed. Set it aside.




Blackberry Sauce!

 For the crust:   makes 12 servings

1 cup ground graham cracker
3 tbsp. melted butter

: preheat the oven to 350’F
: line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners
: stir in the melted butter with ground graham cracker to mix well
: fill 1 1/2 tablespoon in each cup with the crust mixture and firmly press down with the bottom of the glass or anything that fit the muffin pan to compact the crust
: bake at 350’F for 5 minutes, take them out and leave the oven on

 

 

 For the filling:

8 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used nonfat)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup blackberry sauce

: while the crust is baking, in the medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar with the handheld electric mixture at medium speed until smooth, and then add the yogurt, egg and egg yolk, and vanilla extract until the batter is completely smooth, and then stir in the blackberry sauce to mix well.   The batter will turn pink!
: fill the batter into the baking cups evenly
: bake for 15 minutes or just as the center of the cheesecake is set
: remove from the oven and let them cool down a bit for 10-15 minutes
; top each cheesecake with 2 tablespoon of the blackberry sauce and put in the freezer for 15-20 minutes
: remove the cheesecake from the freezer. The sauce on top would not freeze but it will seep into the cheesecake
: serve and enjoy with more fresh blackberries and sauce, if desired

Enjoy!

 

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