Let Them Eat (Cheese) Cake

Good day, dear Kitschies!  I hope this day has been good for you so far.  It's been business as usual here at work, which is a good thing.  I don't mind the routine - it keeps my mind occupied from all the things I have yet to do. 

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite pumpkin recipes from you.  But I can't take full credit for it.  A couple years ago, my bestie's hubs made this for Thanksgiving and I've been hooked ever since.  He got this recipe from The Food Network, more specifically, Paula Deen.  I had always been afraid to make a cheesecake.  This was the first recipe I had tried and now I make it at least once a year.  So good!

Pumpkin Cheesecake
Crust
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick melted butter (salted)

Filling
3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (15 oz) can pureed pumpkin
3 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pre heat oven to 350*. 

For crust: In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch spring form pan. Set aside.

For filling: Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

NOTES:  1 individually wrapped package of graham crackers is exactly 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs.  I used fresh pumpkin puree rather than canned and I think that affected the texture.  It wasn't quite as dense as it usually is when I've used canned pumpkin.

Press the crumb mixture on the bottom of the spring form pan.  I've seen pictures with the crust up along the side, but I'm not coordinated enough (or more likely, not patient enough) to do that.

 

Before the cake cooks, the filling is almost all the way to the top of the pan.  It will puff up a bit while it's cooking, but it'll settle and become more dense as it cools.

 

Fresh out of the oven.  Nice and caramel-y brown.  It comes out quite puffy, but once it cools on the wire rack, it falls a bit and ends up looking like your typical cheesecake.

 

 

YUM!  This has such good flavor, it really doesn't need any extra whipped cream or sauce on top.  The leftovers (if there are any) store very well in the fridge as long as it's covered with plastic wrap.

 

Do you have any recipes you were afraid to try but once you did, you loved it?