Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Raspberry Cheesecake Heart

• ½ cup raspberries
• 1/4  cup Swerve, Confectioners
• 4 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1 large egg (room temperature)
• 1-2 drops of red or pink food coloring- optional
• 1.5 inch Wilton heart molds, mold of choice or ice cube tray

Shortbread Crust

• 1/8 cup coconut flour
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup of butter or coconut oil (cold)
• 1/4 cup Swerve, confectioners
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1-2 TBS cold water

Cheesecake

• 4 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1/3 cup Swerve, Confectioners
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg (room temperature)

Raspberry Puree (optional)

• 2 cups raspberries
• 2 tbsp water (if needed)
• 1/2 cup Swerve, Confectioners 
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum

Raspberry Cheesecake Heart

1. Pulse fresh raspberries in a food processor or blender until pureed.
2. Press pureed raspberries through a fine mesh sieve to remove seeds. Set aside seedless raspberry puree.
3. Add cream cheese to a mixer and mix on medium until smooth. Add Swerve confectioners and mix into smooth.
4. Add egg and mix until completely combined and smooth. Next add raspberry puree and some drops of pink or red food coloring
5. Spoon cream cheese filling into molds about ¾ full
6. Place in freezer for at least 3 hours or freeze overnight. Keep in freezer until use. Can be made a day or two ahead

Shortbread Crust

1.  Preheat the oven to 325°F. Place cupcake liners in a 12 cupcake baking pan.
2. In a medium mixing bowl or food processor, mix the almond flour, coconut flour, Swerve, and salt together. Cut cold butter into small pieces or squares. Pulse in a food processor, or press into dry mixture with a fork until it looks like corn meal (it is okay to have some chunks of butter in your mixture- this is shortbread).
3. Add a TBS of cold water to the mixture- it should begin to loosely combine. Spread dough evenly across all 12 cupcake liners. Press dough evenly into each liner. If the dough sticks to your fingers, wet your fingertips a little bit. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until edges are brown, and parts of the shortbread surface lightly browns. Remove from oven, and let cool for 10 minutes.

Raspberry Puree

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the raspberries and Swerve. Cook raspberries for 5 minutes and break them down with a spoon.  Add a TBS or two of water if they look too clumpy or dry. Reduce the heat and cook for 5 more minutes. Smash berries one more time.
2. Remove raspberries from the heat and press sauce through a fine-mesh strainer or sieve to remove seeds. Make sure you scrape the outside bottom of the sieve. That is where a lot of raspberry hangs out.
3. Place raspberry back into pan, warm for a minute on low temp, and then sprinkle xanthan gum over raspberry puree. Whisk vigorously until xanthan gum is combined. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Cheesecake Batter

For the cheesecake batter, blend cream cheese in an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, until creamy. Scrape sides of bowl, and add Swerve, Confectioners, and vanilla until smooth (5 minutes). Add egg, and mix until combined.

Assembly

1. Add a teaspoon of raspberry puree onto cooled crust, and move it around to cover crust (if you chose not to make raspberry puree for this step).
2. Pour cream cheese filling onto raspberry pureed shortbread crust and gently move cream cheese around to fill the cup.
3. Press raspberry cream heart into middle of cheesecake (raspberry puree may come up the sides of the liner, but we find that looks cool!).
4. Place in the oven at 350 degrees, and bake for 18-20 minutes until corners are lightly browned, and cheesecake heart is set. Gently touch the heart with our finger and if it is dry feeling - not moist - then it can come out.
5. Let cool, and place in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

Note: You can make this the day before, and serve the next day. We also like it served after it has been out of the fridge for 15 minutes.