Mini Berry Cheesecakes

I made these Mini Berry Cheesecakes for our High Tea Picnic Party.  They are actually something I have wanted to make since we began our blog but I was put off as they look tricky.  Truth be told, they weren’t as fiddly as I feared and I was able to make them the night before too, which meant I wasn’t rushing around on the day.  Win!

1 cup ground up biscuits (about 10 – I used gingersnaps)
40g butter, melted
½ cup frozen raspberries, thawed
2 tablespoons icing sugar, sifted
375g cream cheese
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
1 teaspoons vanilla essence
12 – 24 fresh raspberries, to serve

Preheat your oven to 165°C.  Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper or foil cases.
Mix the biscuit crumbs with the melted butter in a bowl.  Divide the mixture among the muffin cases, pressing down firmly.  Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool. 
To make the raspberry purée, mash the raspberries to a pulp with the back of a fork, then strain through a sieve into a bowl, keeping as much juice as possible.  Discard the seeds.  Stir the icing sugar into the raspberry juice.
Place the cream cheese and caster sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until the mixture is smooth, light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each addition.  Finally add in the lemon rind and vanilla essence and mix to combine.
Pour the cream cheese mixture over the biscuit bases, filling right to the top of the cases.  Place small drops (about ½ teaspoon) of raspberry purée on the top of the cakes.  Using  a skewer, carefully swirl the purée through the cheese mixture.  Bake the cakes for approximately 15 minutes or until set.  Switch off the oven and leave the cakes in it to cool completely (they will shrink a bit).
Once the cakes are cool, top with fresh raspberries and dust with icing sugar before serving.