If there is any better excuse to eat pumpkin anything, it's Autumn. I love this time of year. It houses my favourite food holiday (Thanksgiving) and makes it socially acceptable to eat Anything that can remotely be considered 'pumpkin spice seasonal'. Specifically though, pie and cake. My love for a certain orange squash is so great that I will eat endure the weird looks at restaurants when asking for pumpkin desserts in May.
Anyways. For thanksgiving I made a pumpkin swirl cheesecake! I thought I'd share it.
Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake
2 cups finely crushed Gingersnap cookies (I bought premade; pulsed them in a food processor)
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 pkg (250g each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
dash ground cloves
- Preheat oven to 350'F.
- Mix together cookie crumbs and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
- Beat cream cheese, 1/2 sugar and vanilla until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, just until blended. Remove 1 cup pf the plain batter and set aside. Stir in 1/4 cup sugar, pumpkin and spices into the remaining batter.
- Now it's swirling time! Spoon half the pumpkin batter into the crust in the pan. Top with dollops of the plain batter. Dip the tip of a knife or icing spreader into the pumpkin batter and follow it through the dollops in a straight lined lattice. (See video.) Repeat, using remaining pumpkin and plain batter for a second layer.
- Bake 45 minutes or until centre is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Tada! Super easy, Super delicious.
Now... being only the second time I've ever made a cheesecake at home, of course something had to go very wrong. My cheesecake split something awful. BUT! Always look for the little dancing stickman in every disaster. He will show you the way! (Or in this case, the way to place his cookie head.)
Cheers!
-Andrea
The Half-Assed Hobbyist