We buy cream cheese when it’s on sale, but, then we have to use it. That’s harder than it seems, as we don’t spread cream cheese on bagels or anything like that. We tend to prefer the harder cheeses for eating. So, after a while, we look in the dairy drawer in the refrigerator, see the block of cream cheese, and figure we need to use it somehow, and then make something up. This time, we made small cheesecake bites. Mainly because this is the easiest thing ever to make.
Now, the recipe is really, sort of, based on our favorite cheesecake, Tourteau de Chèvre, but we did modify it by adding raspberry …, well, you’ll see. Or, you can see by comparing the two recipes.
The funny thing is that we’d planned these to bring for treats several times over the past couple of months, but both times we forgot them, leaving us with about four dozen cheesecake bites to eat. (Hmm, maybe that was our subconscious plan.) However, they freeze really well, and you can eat them directly from the freezer.
Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bites
Ingredients
- 4 eggs (separated)
- 225 g cream cheese (8 ounces)
- 25 g corn starch (3 Tbs)
- 125 g granulated sugar (1/2 cup + 2 Tbs)
- 1/2 tsp raspberry flavoring
- Pinch kosher salt
- 2-5 drops red food coloring
- 150 chocolate chips (plus more to eat, if desired)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line mini-muffin pans with paper liners.
- Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on high until the egg whites hold stiff but shiny peaks. Transfer to a medium bowl.
- Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment. Place egg yolks, cream cheese, corn starch, sugar, raspberry flavoring, red food coloring, and salt in the mixer bowl (no need to clean), and beat on medium until smooth, adding additional coloring if needed to make a light pink shade.
- Fold egg whites into the mixture and transfer to a piping bag.
- Pipe mini-muffin papers 3/4 full. Place 3 chocolate chips on top, then press in with a small skewer or chopstick.
- Bake for 15 minutes, rotating from front to back and top to bottom, halfway through. A skewer inserted into the center should come out clean.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Ingredient discussion:
We really believe that eggs should come from hens that are treated well. We just figure that, if the hen is healthy, you’ll have healthy eggs. What could be simpler? To find great eggs, shop your farmers’ markets, or, better yet, find someone nearby who has a few backyard layers.
Tip: the easiest way to separate eggs is to crack them all into a bowl and scoop out the yolks with your (clean) hands.
Procedure in detail:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line mini-muffin pans with paper liners. You’ll need about 48 mini-muffin papers. Since these are cheesecake bites, you won’t need to spray the liners, as the cheese will release enough fat to make the liners easy to remove.
Whip egg whites. Place the eggs whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip until you have stiff but shiny peaks. The trick for whipping egg whites is to have a very clean bowl and whisk, and not to get any yolk mixed into the whites; however, you can add a pinch of cream of tartar or a pinch of salt to make the whipping process more reliable. Once whipped, transfer the egg whites to another bowl.
Beat batter. Fit the paddle attachment onto the mixer. There’s no need to clean the mixer bowl as a little egg white won’t matter, so place the yolks, cream cheese, corn starch, sugar, flavoring, salt, and red food coloring in the bowl and beat on medium until smooth. If needed, add more red food coloring until you have the perfect raspberry color.
Fold in whites. It’s easiest to do this in several additions. Add about 1/4 the egg whites and use a spatula to fold them into the batter, then add some more egg whites and repeat. Add the remaining egg whites and fold those in until no streaks remain. Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a 1/4 inch tip. If you don’t have a piping bag, use a plastic bag with the corner cut off to make a 1/4 inch opening.
Pipe cheesecake bites. We guess that you could do this with a teaspoon, rather than a piping bag, but we think it would drive you crazy. Pipe each cup about 3/4 full. Now for the secret: place 3 chocolate chips in the center of each cheesecake bite and use a small skewer to push them under the surface. We used the back end of a bamboo chopstick.
Bake. Place the pans in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, rotating from front to back and top to bottom halfway through. A skewer inserted into the center of a cheesecake bite should come out clean.
Cool. Transfer to a baking rack to cool completely. These cheesecake bites will deflate as the cool, but they still taste great.
These are perfect for just a little bite after dinner — or even before — as they’re just bite sized. We happen to love cheesecake, but it seems as if a single slice is just too much. At first it tastes good, but, then, after about half is gone, it’s just not as good. Not with these, though. You can eat one, two, or even three in succession, and decide on just the right amount. We like the surprise of the chocolate chips in the center. Sure, they melt a bit while baking, but, when cool, the chocolate chips harden back up for a slight crunch. We also like the raspberry flavor, but these should work just fine with other flavors. Anyone up for mint chocolate chip? Five stars because this is a really easy recipe, and you can have cheesecake bites baked and cooling in under 45 minutes.
