Individual Strawberry Cheesecake

We had a little early celebration of Valentine's Day this year - about 3 days early as we had prior engagements on 12th, 13th & 14th. My husband made Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin - this is the first time ever that he has cooked for me.  And I made dessert - Individual Strawberry Cheesecake topped with chopped strawberries macerated with wine and sugar. As I was saying in my previous post, our celebrations have become more about food nowadays and less about eating out. Yeah! We have had our fair share of chocolates & roses and dinner at fancy restaurants celebrations - we were young then! Nowadays we are enjoy being home, eating in and watching movies. I guess this is what growing old together means. 
This recipe makes about 12 individual cheesecakes. I find making cheesecake in muffin tin layered with double cupcake liners a bit hassle-free as opposed to using spring-form pan, especially when I do not have the time to baby-sit my cheesecake. Call me paranoid, but I am never at peace while using a spring-form pan.I have to fight the urge to open the oven door and peep in. Most often I would be seen perched on a stepping stool staring at the cheesecake. Baking it in a muffin tin gives me peace and I don't have to worry about slicing the cake perfectly when I am serving it.

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake:

• Graham Cracker Crumbs - 1 1/4 Cups
• Butter - 5 tbsp (at room temperature)
• Cream Cheese (at room temperature) - 4 oz
• Ricotta Cheese - 1/2 Cup
• Fresh Strawberry - 2-3 + few for garnishing (optional)
• Strawberry Jam - 1 tsp
• Eggs - 2 (at room temperature)
• Sugar - 6 tbsp

For the topping:

• Fresh Strawberries - 3 tbsp, chopped
• Red wine - 2 tbsp (I used Zinfandel)
• Sugar - 1 tsp

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs with butter till it is a crumbly mix. Line a muffin tin with using two cupcake liners in each hole. That just holds the batter better. Put a tablespoon of graham cracker mix and using your fingers press it down firmly. In a food processor make a smooth batter by mixing together the cream cream cheese, ricotta cheese, strawberries, eggs, sugar and strawberry jam. Spoon in the batter till about the 4/5th mark. 
Now fill an ovenproof bowl with some hot water and place it on the rack below the muffin tin inside the oven. The steam will keep the cheesecake moist and prevent it from cracking. Also curb all your urges to open the oven door and peep as this will bring the temperature inside the oven down which might also result in a cracked pr sunk cheesecake. 
Bake for about 25 minutes or till it is firm on the edges and a little jiggly in the middle. Once it cools down, stick it in a fridge for at least an hour for it to set perfectly. Scoop a teaspoonful of the macerated strawberry mix on top and serve. You can garnish it with fresh strawberries. 
For making the strawberry topping, in a bowl mix the chopped fresh strawberries, wine and sugar and let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours.