It was another beautiful day in sunny San Diego. Looking outside my window, I realized autumn is here and the leaves have changed to a range of red to yellow color. My favorite things in autumn are pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream from Baskin Robbins, apple cider, enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with the family, and Black Friday. My husband loves pumpkin pie, and I saw him eyeing it at Costco today. It would be hard for two people to finish the Costco pumpkin pie. You would end up sharing half of the pie with your co-workers. One of my favorite desserts is cheesecake so I decided to make pumpkin cheesecake, a compromise between my husband and me. Although I purposely made this cheesecake for two people, you can always scale the ingredients to serve 8-12 people for Thanksgiving dinner or any other occasions. When serving the cheesecake, don’t forget to add a touch of whip cream.
Crust:
1/3 cup (or 1/2 cup if you like a thicker crust) graham cracker crumbs 1 tbsp light brown sugar 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 2 tbsps melted salted butterFilling:
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese 8 oz pureed pumpkin 1 egg 3 tbsps sour cream 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/8 tsp fresh ground nutmeg 1/8 tsp ground cloves 1 tbsp all-purpose flour 1 tsp vanilla extractDirections
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter.
Press down flat into a 4-inch springform pan.
Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, egg, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Make sure you you blend all the ingredients very well otherwise your cheesecake will turn out chunky. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.
Pour into crust and bake for 1 hour. Notice how smooth the consistency is.
Remove from the oven and let sit it for 15 minutes. Refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.
