Crab Louis Cheesecakes

Tom Douglas, from "I Love Crab Cakes!"

Makes 8 appetizer servings

The Crab Louis was invented on the West Coast (both Seattle and San Francisco have been vying for the honor for years) around the turn of the 20^th century. I took a little inspiration from this retro Dungeness crabmeat salad, which generally features crisp iceberg lettuce, a hardboiled egg, and a pink dressing made with mayo and chili sauce, to come up with these savory, smooth, and creamy cheesecake appetizers. The little cakes, with their Crab Louie toppings, are great for a party. They look pretty as a picture, and they’re not at all difficult to make.

The cheesecakes need to chill overnight, so plan accordingly.

For the muffin pan
½ cup dried bread crumbs
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus more butter for greasing the muffin tin

For the cheesecake batter
½ pound cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon thinly sliced chives
1 teaspoon minced thyme

For the Crab Louis topping
Red cocktail sauce (see below)
About 1 cup loosely packed thinly shredded iceberg lettuce
½ pound Dungeness crabmeat, drained, picked clean of shell, and lightly squeezed if wet

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

To prepare the muffin pan, grease 8 of the cups of a standard muffin tin with butter. Melt the 1 tablespoon of butter in a small skillet over medium high heat. Add the bread crumbs and stir for a few minutes until browned and crunchy. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Divide the toasted bread crumbs between the 8 buttered muffin cups and rotate the pan to cover the sides and bottom of each muffin cup as evenly as possible. Shake out excess crumbs. Set the muffin pan aside.

To make the cheesecake batter, put the cream cheese in a bowl, and use an electric mixer to beat it until smooth. Gradually beat in the sour cream, then the eggs. Add the herbs and mix until combined. (Note: you can also make the cheesecake batter in a food processor, adding ingredients in the same order.)

Pour the cheese cake batter into the muffin cups, dividing it evenly.

Place the muffin pan in roasting pan large enough to hold it. Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour in enough hot water to come about halfway up the sides of the muffin pan. Bake for 35 minutes. The tops of the cheesecakes will be slightly puffed and lightly browned. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and remove the muffin pan. Allow the pan to cool, then place in the refrigerator overnight, covering loosely with plastic wrap when the cheesecakes are completely cold.

When you are ready to serve the cheesecakes, remove the muffin pan from the refrigerator and place it in a roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with enough hot tap water to come about half way up the sides of the muffin tin. Let the muffin pan sit in the hot water about 30 seconds (which warms the butter and makes the cakes easier to remove), then remove the muffin pan. To unmold a cheesecake, run a small knife around the edge and, using the knife and your fingers, gently pop the cake out of the pan. Repeat until all the cheesecakes are unmolded. Place the cheesecakes on small plates.

To serve, top each cheesecake with a small dollop of red cocktail sauce, then with a small mound of shredded lettuce, then with some of the crabmeat, dividing the crabmeat evenly. Top each portion of crabmeat with another dollop of cocktail sauce. Serve the cheesecakes, passing more cocktail sauce at the table.

Red Cocktail Sauce
1 cup ketchup or chili sauce, such as Heinz
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
2 dashes of Tabasco

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.