White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce (Mini)

Everyone adores these cute little White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bites. They are just the right size for popping into your mouth. Creamy, smooth, rich, and decadent morsels worthy of any occasion.

Crust:
1½ cups Oreo cookie crumbs, cream centers removed (about 22-23 finely crushed cookies)
6 Tbsp. salted butter, melted

White Chocolate Cheesecake:
½ bag (6 oz) pure white chocolate chips
¼ cup half-and-half cream
1½ (12 oz total) blocks whole cream cheese, softened to almost melted
¼ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Raspberry Sauce:
5 oz fresh raspberries
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1½ tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 3 Tbsp. water

Make the Crust:
In a large bowl, mix fine cookie crumbs with butter until well incorporated. Should resemble wet sand. Scoop 1 slightly rounded tsp crumb mixture evenly into 48 lined mini muffin tins. Press down to form bottom crusts.

Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C, Gas Mark 2), with rack on lower middle position.

Make the Raspberry Sauce:
Combine raspberries, sugar, and dissolved cornstarch in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring often. Once mixture is thickened, remove from heat and set aside.

Make the Custard:
In heavy saucepan, melt white chocolate chips together with half and half on low heat, stirring often. Remove from heat. In large bowl, mix together nearly melted cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and the melted white chocolate mixture.

Scoop 1 rounded Tbsp. custard evenly into lined mini muffin tins. Dollop ½ tsp. raspberry sauce over the custard. Gently use a thin knife to lightly swirl.

Bake 20 minutes or until tops are puffy and no longer sticky upon light touch. Let cool to room temp and then cover and chill in fridge (overnight is recommended.)

Top with Stabilized Whipped Cream and serve.

Cook's Notes:

• Raspberry sauce can be made up to a week ahead of time and stored airtight in fridge until ready to use.
• Baked cheesecakes can be covered airtight and stored in fridge 2-3 days. They can also be frozen 1-2 weeks in airtight container.
• Make the raspberry sauce ahead of time. You only need 3 ingredients for said raspberry sauce, and it keeps well in the fridge for up to a week.
• Crush the Oreo cookies ahead of time while you're at it. I like to quickly scrape off the cream filling of the cookies, since those aren't needed and you get a bigger chocolatey flavour in the crust without the center filling. Cookie crumbs keep well in an airtight zipper bag for several days.
• This one's huge: be sure your blocks of cream cheese are very soft prior to using them. They should be so soft that they're almost melty (but not quite melted.) This allows the cream cheese to blend seamlessly, into a smooth-velvety-creamy consistency.