Adventures in Taste

Now - I have never made this with actual cream cheese, nor actual eggs (or butter). So if my husband's family had no clue it wasn't made with all that good stuff then it must be good with it. For anyone who doesn't eat dairy or eggs - we used Toffuti's Better than Cream cheese and Ener-G egg replacer, and Nucoa margarine in place of the dairy/egg ingredients. Let me tell you- it is freakin' awesome.


Pumpkin Cheesecake - serves 12 (or if you really like cheesecake it could be single serving)

Position rack in center of the oven and preheat to 350. Assemble a 9 inch springform pan, making sure the raised side of the bottom is facing out (I'd hate for you to get smoked out of your house by butter burning off the bottom of your oven.)

Make the crust (once again, food processor works, I used the good ol' fashioned zip lock bag and a rolling pin, less clean up for me) - crush up 10 graham crackers and 1/4 c. sugar. Add 4 T unsalted butter, melted and mix until moist yet crumbly. Press firmly into the bottom of the pan, coming up a it on the edges to prevent the batter from getting under the crust. Bake until golden around the edges (about 10 minutes)

Set a timer and start on the filling. With an electric mixer, beat 4 pkg (8 oz each) bars of very soft cream cheese and 1 1/4 c. sugar on low speed until smooth. Mix in 3 T. flour (be very careful not to over mix. Gluten is not a cheesecake's best friend). Add 1 c. canned pumpkin puree, 1 T + 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/2 t. nutmeg, 1/2 t. ground cloves, 1 t. all spice and 1/2 t. ground ginger (or you could just use 2 T Pumpkin Pie spice, I find that too simple), 1 T pure vanilla extract, and 1/2 t. salt; mix until just smooth. Add 4 large eggs (at room temp.), 1 at a time, mixing after each.

Hopefully you remembered to remove your crust from the oven - Place springform pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Pour filling into springform and gentle smooth top. Transfer to oven and reduce heat to 300. Bake 45 minutes. DO NO OPEN YOUR OVEN. Turn off the oven and let cheesecake stand in oven for 2 more hours. Resist all temptation to open the door.

Remove your cheesecake from the oven after waiting patiently for 2 hours; transfer entire pan to a wire rack to cool completely. After completely cool, cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge until firm. This takes no less than 4 hours. If you are a make ahead sort of person, you can leave it in the fridge up to 3 days. Remove sides of springform before serving.

The process of making the cheesecake isn't complicated, but it is quite a time consuming feat. Trust me, the results are well worth the wait.