Week 10, October 25, 2010: Pumpkin Cheesecake

I know it's been a bit- I haven't been shirking on the baking responsibilities, just meeting with the advisors, grades and papers due have kept me from uploading pics and updating the blog.

Week 10 was Pumpkin Cheesecake.  Recipe from joyofbaking.com

My mother and aunt said that if there was one recipe for me to make and make again, it would be this one.  It's like pumpkin pie meets cheesecake.  I've been commissioned for a couple for Thanksgiving.

I love this recipe for two reasons: 1, I absolutely licked the gingersnap recipe this week.  They were outstanding and I ate probably over a dozen while I was baking.  I like gingersnaps because they're so versatile.  They're spicy, but perfectly comfortable in milk or coffee.  One of the pro's of this recipe is that they don't go to mush when dunked.

The recipe was super easy.  Cream cheese plus sugar and spice and everything nice mixture.  Then add three eggs (low for a normal cheesecake) and followed up by pumpkin and vanilla.

To work out some aggression, I used the pastry cutter for the initial mix in and broke out the hand mixer at the end.  I was trying not to over mix- remember, there have been issues with cracking.  Instead of over-mixing, I lost my focus and in the process the hand-mixer exacted its revenge for that week with my brother's kitchen aid-- I lost a good fork.

 Other than that, no mishaps to pronounce- the cheesecakes seemed to need a good ten minutes longer than recommended, which gave me some extra kitchen cleanup time and the chance to make up two batches of sour cream topping.

Which is now my preferred cookie "frosting".

German Chocolate cake is up next- stay tuned!