Pumpkin is a funny word

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

  1. Preheat oven to 350'F.
  2. Mix together cookie crumbs and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
  3. 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. 
  4. 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.
  5. 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

The Cheesecake

Dinner's at 6!

Dinner's at 6!

This past easter, I put on a dinner party. Main reason (we're not religious in the slightest): I wanted turkey. So I cooked a 14lbs turkey with all the fixings and had some friends come to enjoy cocktails and appies and, what turned out to honestly be the main attraction, a Spumoni Cheesecake.

I'd made this cheesecake recipe before, back when I was working in the test kitchen at the Blue Flame Kitchen in Edmonton. All I really remembered about it though was that it was mind blowingly good. And for someone that's lactose-intolerant to want to eat a cheesecake, it is a big thing. 

Below is the recipe, adapted from the BFK website. But really, the pictures and smiles speak for themselves. 

Spumoni Cheesecake

Crust
6 shortcake biscuits, coarsely broken (about 1 cup)
1 cup shelled roasted pistachios
1/4 cup butter, chilled and cubed
1 tbsp sugar

Filling
24 oz cream cheese, cubed and softened
1 cup red candied cherries
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup whipping cream
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped candied mixed fruit

Topping
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
2 squares bittersweet chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled (~4 mins in microwave on low)
1 tsp vanilla

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 10 inch springform pan.
  2. To prepare crust, place biscuits, pistachios, butter and sugar in a food processor. Process, using an on/off motion, until mixture is crumbly. Press mixture evenly onto bottom of the prepared pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes. Cool crust completely in pan on a rack. 
  3. Reduce oven temperature to 325F. 
  4. To prepare filling, place filling ingredients (cream cheese through vanilla) in a food processor. Process, using an on/off motion, until combined. Continue blending until mixture is smooth and pale pink. Transfer to a bowl and stir in candied mixed fruit. Pour filling into prepared pan, over crust.
  5. Bake cheesecake for 1 hour or until centre of cheesecake is puffed and jiggles slightly when shaken. 
  6. While cheesecake is baking, take sour cream out of the fridge, measure it into a bowl, and let sit on the counter to come to room temperature. 
  7. Start preparing the topping about 10 minutes before cheesecake is done. To make topping,  combine sour cream, sugar, cooled melted chocolate and vanilla. Remove cheesecake from oven and spread topping evenly over cheesecake. 
  8. Continue baking for 10 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven and cool completely on a rack. Cover and refrigerate cake for 8 hours or up to 24 hours. 
  9. To serve, remove sides of springform pan. Decorate top of cake with pistachios and cherries. Cut cake with a warm knife. 

So if you're in the mood for a crazy good dessert that will make you fight your inner glutton (so you stop eating cheesecake for breakfast for the rest of the week), defs try making this cheesecake. 

Much recommended.

-Andrea (and inner glutton)

The Half-Assed Hobbyist