Just after Christmastime, I made one of my favorite purchases of the year: new calendars. Choosing one is almost impossible for me, so I usually wind up with five or six lining the walls of my office or bedroom. The greatest find of 2011 is my cupcake calendar, though — 365 days of cupcake recipes and delectable photos!
Since I started pulling apart my page-a-days, I’ve kept all sorts of delicious concoctions for future trial and error. And last Friday I found myself wandering the grocery store with this recipe in hand, intrigued by the odd combination of flavors.
Anything with graham cracker crumbs is all right by me, friends. In fact, that’s what really prompted me to save this recipe in the first place: the promise of graham-and-honey goodness. I already had many of the ingredients on hand, by some miracle, so it was just a matter of finding the orange extract and ricotta cheese.
Don’t let a mention of “cheese” freak you out. Ricotta is creamy and sweet — the same filling used in cannoli. Adding in the walnuts gives these cheesecake desserts a nice texture, too, and some added crunch — and I love the hint of orange in the cheese batter. After trying one, Spencer mentioned that almond extract might taste delicious instead of the orange . . . and he’s probably right. I think I’ll try that next time.
The original recipe from the calendar stated this recipe would produce a dozen cupcakes, but that was so wrong. After filling 12 muffin liners, my batter hadn’t even been dented. I quickly whipped up another batch of the graham/honey/butter combination and made 12 more. The recipe below reflects my changes because I couldn’t, in good conscience, lead you kind folks to believe you’d have only a dozen of these babies when done.
Though the ricotta cheesecake cupcakes won’t help me fit into my bridesmaid dress before September, they will help me sleep better. I recommend consuming a half dozen before bedtime for sweet, sweet dreams.
Ricotta Cheesecake Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from The Cupcake Calendar by Sellers Publishing
Ingredients:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tbsp. margarine, melted
4 tbsp. honey
2 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tsp. orange extract
1/2 cup walnut halves
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place 24 baking cups in muffin pans.
In a food processor, combine the cracker crumbs, margarine and honey. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the mixture into each cup, pressing firmly into the bottom. Chill until set.
In a large bowl, beat the ricotta with an electric mixer until soft. Then beat in the eggs, confectioners’ sugar, and orange extract. Fold in the walnuts. Spoon the mixture into the cups.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack. Chill until ready to serve.
Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Makes 24 cupcakes.
write meg! 
These look so yummy and creamy! I love cheesecake…and the fact that it is in the form of a cupcake makes it even better! Great pics! 🙂
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O.M.G. I neeed to make these.
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You are always tempting me to eat really yummy food! First thing in the morning! Thank you! What a great way to start the day 🙂
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Boy do those look delicious!
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wow. wowowowowowowowow I’m ready to race home on my lunch to attempt to bake these! I’m bookmarking this page for the future. Right now I’m still trying to perfect cheesy potatoes (I’m a total rookie) but I have a feeling these cupcakes will appear in my dreams until I make them!
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Yummmmmmmmm.
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Drooling here 🙂
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Just found your blog today. Look forward to reading more… my favorite combination of books and food.
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Wow – Those sound and look so good. Do you think they’d taste as good without the walnuts? I have a child with a nut allergy but she LOVES cheesecake. – just like her mommy. 🙂
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Girls after my own heart! Yes, Sheery, I think these would be just fine without the walnuts. My dad isn’t a fan so I made a few “plain” ones for him — he approved!
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Good to know – thanks. I’ll let you know how we like them when we make them. Although really, how can they be wrong? 🙂
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A cupcake calendar? Throw out all the others.
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my pants feel more snug just looking at these! i love your recipes and photos–such a nice addition to the bookish stuff on your site. 🙂
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Oh my goodness, I had one of those cupcake a day calendars last year! It totally did a number on my diet but man it was so much fun making all of those cupcakes! These look delicious!
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These sound divine! I recently had a unique piece of cheesecake at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was made with ricotta, goat cheese, and honey, and it was better than normal cheesecake so now I’m all about ricotta in cheesecake!
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Oh my God why would you do this to me? I want one so bad…or just an ordinary cupcake…or cheesecake. You have just completely kicked my sweet tooth into high gear!
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oh man. i love love love cheesecake! i’m definitely going to give this recipe a try.
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I need to make these. They look absolutely delicious!
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I love cheesecake! I can prepare this for this coming Chinese new year. My hubby will surely love this one.
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This cheesecake looks so great! My kids will love this as their new snacks tomorrow. They usually used to snack cookies and your cupcake will be great.
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