It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Oh October.  Easily my favorite part of the year.  And for several reasons.  Finally the air starts to cool and the leaves turn, which I haven't really noticed a lot of in Los Angeles, but maybe soon right??  I hear the seasons here turn a little later than they do on the east coast.  Second, Halloween, which is my absolutely favorite holiday of the year.  I love the pumpkins and witches and scary movies all over TV. Also, its my birth month!  Yes, happy birthday to me this coming Tuesday!  I'm excited to check out Miru 8691 for my birthday dinner.  Who wouldn't want to go after seeing their episode of Crave on the Food Network!!  I can't wait to tell you all about it on Wednesday.

But my favorite part of October is that all of a sudden the food starts to change.  We start craving richer flavors and warmer dishes.  I know for me, on the first cold day of fall I want to pull my crock pot out of summer retirement and make a huge serving of Taco Soup or Chili.  Not to mention all of the amazing fall desserts that start to come out.

My favorite of all of these is pumpkin cheesecake.  I found this recipe from Paula Deen and wanted to share it with you.  It actually won a recipe cook-off that one of my friend's moms puts on every year around this time.  Such a great alternative to traditional pumpkin pie, which might be another reason I love it so much.  I love traditional recipes that you can tweak a little and make into something just as tasy, but just a little different.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick melted salted butter

***Or I cheat and use store bought crust, taste the same to me and so much easier!***

Filling:

• 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.  ***Or like I said above, use a store bought one...either way***

For filling:

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.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

One tip, put this in a water bath when cooking.  I've attached a link below describing this technique in case you aren't familiar.  I sure wasn't and the first time I tried this the cheesecake cracked and didn't look too appealing.  Don't get me wrong, it was TASTY!  but not cute to look at.  So if that is important to you, check out the water bath technique.  

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/what-is-a-water-bath.htm

Check out this recipe, I KNOW you will love it.  What other things do you enjoy adding pumpkin to?  I'm just now starting to enjoy the flavor and texture of pumpkin and would like to try it in other things.  

Until next time!

Guten Appetit!