Mini Cheesecake with Caramel Crickets

Just the cheesecake you are always dreaming of- creamy, rich and delicious. Thankfully, these are one-biters so you can have more than one piece! The gluten-free cricket crust and candied crickets on top make this dessert a one of a kind conversation piece and a great dish for anybody curious about the sweeter taste of crickets.

Made with Next Millennium Farms Protein2050 Gluten Free Cricket Flour and Organic Roasted Crickets

Makes 48 one-bite cheesecakes

Ingredients

Crust

2/3 cup pecans

¾ cup flaked, unsweetened organic coconut

¼ cup cashew butter

2 TBSP organic local honey

2 TBSP coconut flour

4 TBSP ground almonds or almond meal

¼ cup butter, room temperature

Pinch of sea salt

¼ cup NMF Protein2050 organic cricket flour (gluten free if necessary)

Cheesecake

2 eggs

½ cup organic sugar

500g cream cheese, room temperature

½ cup whipping cream

2 tsp custard powder

Topping

¼ cup NMF roasted organic crickets

2 TBSP granulated honey

Pinch of sea salt

¼ cup Dulche de Leche caramel, room temperature

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Line one or two mini muffin pans with mini muffin cups, foil candy cups work especially well.
3. For the crust, place pecans into a food processor and mix until the oils begin to give the nuts a pecan butter texture.
4. Add the coconut, cashew butter, honey, coconut flour, almond meal, butter, salt and NMF cricket flour. Pulse until well combined.
5. Remove from processor and place in a bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes to stiffen while you make your cheesecake mixture.
6. In a medium bowl beat together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
7. Alternate adding the cream cheese and cream in small amounts and continue to beat. *NOTE: add the custard powder to last bit of cream to be added, mix, then add it to the cream cheese mixture. Finish beating and set aside.
8. Remove crust mix from the refrigerator and place 1 tsp in the bottom of each muffin cup. Press into bottom to flatten.
9. Place cheesecake mixture into a piping bag with a medium to large hole and pipe cheesecake into each cup in a circular motion starting from the outside and ending in the middle.
10. Place cheesecakes into oven and bake for 15 minutes. To prevent cracking, leave the cheesecakes in the oven for an additional 15 minutes while the oven cools then remove and cool. The other method to prevent cracking involves placing your muffin tin on a cookie sheet and putting some water in the cookie sheet. The steam from the water prevents cheesecake cracking as well.

While your cheesecakes cook you can start on the candied crickets for the top.

1. Take roasted crickets and place into a colander shake. This will help to quickly remove the legs. Pour onto a plate and separate whole crickets and then discard the remaining legs.
2. Heat sauté pan to medium-low and add granulated honey, sea salt and crickets. Continue to stirring until honey is melting and crickets are well coated. Mix for another 10 seconds being careful not to burn honey or crickets and remove from pan and place on a sheet of parchment paper to cool. Before they cool completely, you can break the candied crickets apart into bits that are the size of 2-3 crickets for the tops of your cheesecakes.
3. Place caramel into a piping bag with a small hole and pipe a drop of caramel onto the center of each cooled cheesecake. Then top with 2 or 3 candied crickets. Voila! You are ready to serve.

Note: These cheesecakes freeze well and can be topped with caramel and crickets after you pull them from the freezer the day of serving.