Cheesecake pots with blackberry swirls

I love these cheese cake pots, a simple cheesecake batter baked in small pots or ramekins without crust. The result is a cheese cake that looks like more like little puddings. I make them very often because they are extremely easy and fast to make. I must confess that I the part I don´t like in cheese cakes is the crust, the biscuit or pastry based dough is always the down side for me.




Donna Hay, an Australian journalist and editor, has a quite famous version of this dessert, but it does not call for eggs and is totally bake free. But I rather add eggs and bake my cheese cake pots. I prefer egg based cheese cakes in general. I have never really tried anyone of Donna Hay's recipes but I have notice that her magazine and books have become quite popular outside Australia too. I saw her recipe the other day and decided to make this one, totally inspired by hers.





Cheese cake pots with blackberry swirl

200 grams of light (reduced fat) cream cheese at room temperature
125 ml of sour light (reduced fat) cream at room temperature
60 grams of sugar
3 tablespoons of honey
1/2 vanilla extract
2 eggs at room temperature
1 tablespoon of tapioca flour or corn starch
80 ml of blackberry purée (see below)

How:

Butter five shallow ramekins or creme brulée pots and set aside. In a bowl whisk cheese, sour cream, sugar and honey. Add the vanilla extract and the eggs, one at a time and whisk until well incorporated. And finally add the starch. Divide the batter among the buttered ramekins or pots. Add three to four teaspoons of blackberry purée to the batter, in each one of the ramekins, and using a skew make some swirls. Bake the pots at 180C/350F in a pre-heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until slightly set, the center will remain wobbly. Let the pots cool completely. Serve chilled.




Blackberry purée

100 grams of blackberries thawed (I used frozen as the fresh ones live far away from here!)
30 to 50 grams fo sugar
splash of lime juice

How:

Put the blackberries, the sugar and the lime juice in a small saucepan over medium heat and let the mixture go to a boil. Remove from heat and process with a hand mixer and pass the mixture through a sieve. Let it cool completely before using the purée to make the swirls.