Raspberry Cheesecakes

Adapted from Kitchen Express

These adorable individual cheesecakes are perfect for summer because they don’t need to be baked. I’m in love already. When you need an easy dessert in a hurry, this is a great choice. Do not be tempted to try to make one big cheesecake with this recipe (as I tried to do here, pictured to the right). The crust is too crumbly and it won’t work. Use the ramekins and store any leftovers in the fridge for up to a day.

One sleeve graham crackers
Kosher salt
3 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup cream cheese (1-8 oz. package), at room temperature
3 tablespoons honey
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 pint fresh raspberries

Place one sleeve of graham crackers in a food processor and process until finely ground. I foolishly used my mini-prep for this step so I wouldn’t have to clean my large food processor. Well, guess what? I had to transfer the mess into my big one anyway then I had to clean both. So just use the big one and move on.
In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs with a pinch of salt and the melted butter. Press the mixture into the bottom of 8 ramekins.
Whisk together the ricotta, cream cheese, honey, zest and juice of a lemon and pinch of salt. Taste the mixture and add more honey if you’d like it a little sweeter. Spoon the cheese mixture into the ramekins, smoothing the top over lightly. Place the berries on top of the cheese mixture and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Quick Tips
1. Wouldn’t these be adorable for July 4 with the addition of blueberries? You could create a fun pattern with the two berries or just fill the center with blueberries and leave the raspberries around the edge, as I’ve done here.
2. I used whole milk ricotta and regular cream cheese. If you’d like to make these lighter, use nonfat or lowfat dairy products to drastically reduce the fat content.

Preparation time: 20 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

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