Yield: 12 Mini Cheesecakes

Ingredients:

• Crust: 1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
• Crust: 2 tbsp. Butter
• Crust: ¼ cup Friedensfeld Honey
• Crust: Pinch of Salt
• Filling: 16 oz. Cream Cheese [room temperature]
• Filling: 2 Eggs [Whites and yolks separated]
• Filling: ¾ cup Sugar
• Filling: ½ tsp. Salt
• Filling: 1 tsp. Vanilla
• Filling: Dash of Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
2. In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, honey, salt, and melted butter. Place cupcake liners in a muffin tin and begin dropping rounded tablespoons of the graham cracker mixture into each liner. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the liner lightly, creating a crust. There may be some crusts left over.
3. Pre-bake for 8 minutes, then remove from the oven and reduce heat to 350ºF.
4. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, salt, and vanilla until fully combined and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time.
5. In a small bowl using a hand mixer, beat the two egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Add a dash of sugar and continue beating for another 30 seconds-1 minute.
6. Gentle fold the eggs whites into the cream cheese, mixing to a smooth yet thin consistency, then divide among the 12 muffin liners until the cups are almost full. You may have a little bit of the mixture left over.
7. Bake for 20 minutes. Let rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes until the filling returns to its normal shape. Don’t worry about cracks in the surface; you will be covering them with chocolate.
8. Chill for a minimum of 2 hours before topping.
9. Using a double boiler, gently melt your chocolate, stirring occasionally to combine. [Plainly, melt the chocolate].
10. At this point, you can keep the cheesecakes in their liners or choose to remove them.

Tip:

With a regular kitchen spoon, pour chocolate on top of the cheesecakes making sure to coat the entire surface. Gently press melted chocolate over the edges to get a dripping effect along the sides of the cupcakes or muffins. Wait until the chocolate on the cheesecakes harden before dipping the strawberries in the bowl of melted chocolate and resting on top of each cheesecake. Assembly and topping: Cupcake/ Muffin Liners, Melting Chocolate, Friedensfeld Strawberries.