Pumpkin Cheesecake

Oh my! Ladies, this week's treat is sinfully delicious. So good that you'll feel guilty taking more than one bite.

Yes, it's my favorite day of the week again!

TREAT YOUR SWEET TOOTH TUESDAY!!

Considering this uber festive mood I've been in I thought I should make something season appropriate. The weather doesn't seem to be cooperating so at least I can try to bring a lil fall into our lives through food. ;)

My first attempt at PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE!

First things first: I needed to buy yet another item for the kitchen. Well actually two more items. My sparse kitchen drawers were lacking a spring form pan and a pie server. What can I say? I guess we just never eat pie. And it's a no brainer that I never make pies. I once owned a spring form pan that I was pressured into registering for by the sales lady. She informed me that I needed one to make cakes and such. She obviously didn't know me. I sold it two weeks ago in the garage sale for $0.50. Somewhat got a good bargain! So after picking up my new goodies (that are apparently essential in the kitchen) I was ready to start.

Oh I get it now!! They spring open! Lol

Ready to go!

Crust Ingredients:
*1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (I just bought a store bought graham cracker crust and crumbled it up)
*3 Tbsp light brown sugar
*1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
*1 stick melted butter


Filling Ingredients:*3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
*1 (15 oz) can pureed pumpkin
*3 eggs plus
*1 egg yolk
*1/4 cup sour cream
*1 1/2 cup sugar
*1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
*1/8 tsp ground cloves
*2 Tbsp flour
*1 tsp vanilla


Topping Ingredients:
*1/2 cup sour cream
*4 Tbsp sugar
*1/2 container Cool Whip
*1/2 tsp vanilla


I was pleasantly surprised by the innocent enough ingredient list. Not too long and offensive to my eyes. One plus was that I'd actually heard of all the ingredients on the list. That's always a plus!!! Ok, wait. One thing did offend me.....sour cream?!?! Gross!

 Ok, I'm done babbling....let's get to baking!


1) Preheat over to 350 degrees


2) Comdine crumbs, brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add melted butter. Press down flat in a 9-inch spring gorm pan to form crust. Set aside.

3) 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.

4) Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place in oven for 1 hour. (Please, please please make sure that you place a pan underneath the cheesecake pan. Apparently spring form pans leak while baking. If you don't believe me then maybe now you will......

Pre-smoke

Riley's famous words while I'm cooking something: "babe, something's going crazy in there!" Usually it is just some boiling water....but this time he had a good point.....

After-smoke (and this is why I don't cook)

5) Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes.


6) Make sure to run a knife slowly along the sides of the pan to release cake from edges so that it won't crack or sink while cooling (I skipped this part and ended up with two huge cracks in the middle. Bye, bye pretty cheesecake)


7) Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl. Pour topping on and spread evenly. (Just a warning: I pulled this topping out of thin air because I didn't want the cracks to show. It turned out pretty tasty I must say.)


8) Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate for 4 hours or overnight.


9) Remove from refridgerator and remove sides of pan.


10) I used a can of Ready-whip to make the edges look purty...because trust me the sides weren't looking so purty. A bit of advice....grease edges of pan before starting. Paula Dean forgot to tell me that step. K, y'all?

Oh yeah, one more thing. ENJOY!

Sprinkle with cinnamon for some color...and a dollop of whipped cream wouldn't hurt either. ;)

The entire time I was mixing, stirring, baking and pouring I kept thinking "ok, when am I going to mess up?" Well, besides almost setting the smoke alarms off, it turned out better than I'd hoped for. And the taste? Oh my! You just have to try it for yourself. But I do need taste-testers....any takers?

GOT MOTIVATION?