Pumpkin Cheescake Recipe

 

Did I mention that I love pumpkin? Well, I do,and I could eat it with a mouse, I could eat it in a house…oh wait that is Green Eggs and Ham. Never the less, I do love it and have made several more recipes including pumpkin this week. This is one of them and it is a great alternative to traditional pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Recipe adapted from  All Recipes,com

Ingredients

 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 pinch ground cloves

1 pinch ground nutmeg

Crust

* There are several options here.

 Premade graham cracker crust

 Or make your own using graham cracker crumbs and butter then bake.

 Make your own using crushed cookies ( Trader Joe Windmill cookies crushed) and 1/2 cups of butter melted

Directions for Crust:

Mix together and press into tart shell or 9 inch pie plate. Bake on 350 for about 10 minutes or until brown. Let cool before you add filling.

Directions for Filling:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.

Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

If you use a tart pan, after it has cooled overnight or for at least 3 hours, slip off the tart ring and place on a platter. This makes cutting the pie much easier. Otherwise just slice from your 9 inch pie plate. You can serve this with whipped cream too!

Although this pumpkin cheesecake is delicious I will still be making traditional pumpkin pie for my guests, even if I am the only one that eats it!

Modifications:

I did not have a premade crust or any fresh graham crackers, so I ground up Trade Joe windmill cookies. In the past I have also used any sort white sugar cookie or ginger snaps. Mix 1 3/4 cups of crumbs with 1/2 cup melted butter and press into pan.

I also used 1 package of 1/3 less fat cream cheese and 1 package fat free. In addition, I did add a pint more of each of the spices. I love  these spices and I personally like the pie to have a spicier flavor. It tastes excellent as written above, I just like it more spicy. Make it to your tastes and those of your guests.

Linking to:

Wow US Wednesdays@Savvy Southern style

Fox Hollow