Strawberry Swirled Mini Ricotta Cheesecakes

Here comes another birthday post! This time for my very best friend Az, whom was featured with the glorious chicken wings at Phnom Pehn. Strawberries and cheesecake are two of her favourite foods, so that's what I planned as her birthday cake. But with a twist!

Strawberry Swirled Mini Ricotta Cheesecakes

Unlike my Berry Swirl Cheesecake or Mocha Cheesecake Squares, there are two types of cheeses in this cake, cream cheese and ricotta. The addition of ricotta creates a texture that is much lighter and fluffier. On the cheesiness scale, I'd place these mini cheesecakes between a New York cheesecake and a Japanese cheesecake, but closer to the Japanese one. It's not as spongy as it's Japanese relative, just a bit cheesier.  Perhaps my cheesecakes like puns... (Okay, that was a really bad joke. Just for you, Peanut Crumpet =___=;;)

Fresh Summer Strawberries

The simple strawberry sauce can easily be substituted by almost any other flavours. Other fruits such as blackberries would work beautifully (check out my blackberry + ricotta recipe) or richer flavours like peanut butter or chocolate could be used too! To do so, reserve a bit of cheesecake batter to mix in a generous scoopful of peanut butter, cocoa powder, or whatever flavour your heart desires. To create the heart-shaped swirls, simply dot a few blobs of sauce over the raw batter and drag a toothpick through the centre depending on which direction you wish the hearts to go. A simple yet impressive design!

More fresh strawberries!

To amp up the aroma of these individual cheesecakes, I toasted some almonds to whiz in with the crust. Hiding it in the crust is a discrete way to add another element to the dessert; my mom suddenly asked me "what did you put in the crust?" She definitely knew it wasn't the basic graham cracker crust, but couldn't quite put her finger on what was different.

Strawberry Swirled Mini Ricotta Cheesecakes

These muffin-sized miniature cheesecakes make it clean to pack to work or school for a snack or to share at a party. The paper liner doesn't stick at all once the cake has thoroughly been cooled. Clean and easy to eat, -thumbs up-

Ready to dig into my serving of Strawberry Ricotta Cheesecake

Serving these mini cheesecakes with a generous dollop of the swirling sauce is an easy way to not only use up the leftover sauce, but to strengthen the strawberry flavour. Because, realistically, seven drips of strawberry sauce doesn't stand out much when the cheese flavour is so prominent.

Click below for the recipe!

Strawberry Swirled Mini Ricotta Cheesecakes

Adapted from Cakes 'N' Bakes

Yield: 14 muffin-sized cheesecakes

Ingredients

Crust

• ½ cup almonds, toasted
• ½ graham cracker crumbs
• A pinch of Himalayan pink sea salt
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp honey

Cake

• 1 cup ricotta
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 tbsp honey
• Zest of 1 lemon
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs, room temperature 
• Quick & Simple Strawberry Sauce, recipe below

Directions

1. To begin, place ricotta over a fine sieve or a cheesecloth and drain excess water over a bowl for at least half an hour.
2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
3. In a food processor, combine all crust ingredients and process until a wet sand consistency is achieved. 
4. Press 2 or 3 tsp of crust mixture into the bottom of each paper liner with the back of a small spoon. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from oven and cool before adding cheesecake batter.
5. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the ricotta and mix until well combined. 
6. Add sugar, honey, lemon zest, and vanilla to cheese batter and mix until creamy and evenly incorporated.
7. Add the eggs to the batter one at a time, making sure to completely combine each time.
8. Scoop cheesecake batter over cooled crusts using a muffin scoop. Place a few dots of strawberry sauce and swirl with a toothpick.
9. Bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until filling is puffed, the edges begin to brown, and the centre jiggles slightly when shook. Cool completely on a wire rack before chilling in the fridge. 

Quick & Simple Strawberry Sauce

Yield: about ½ cup

Ingredients

• 1 cup of hulled strawberries (that's approximately 6 to 9 strawberries, depending on the consistency you're looking for)
• 1 tbsp honey

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in food processor or mini food chopper and puree until smooth.  Add more strawberries for a thicker sauce. Use in Mini Ricotta Cheesecakes and store in fridge when not using.

Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡