Pumpkin This, Pumpkin That, and Pumpkin Cheesecake

I have always loved pumpkin bread. I don't understand the recent fascination with pumpkin because it's always been one of my favorite flavors and at my house I keep pumpkin stocked year round (this year I'm stocking up more than usual because we supposedly have a big pumpkin shortage on our hands– I'm not sure I believe it yet because we were told the same thing several years ago and I continued to see pumpkin on the shelves).

I hadn't made cheesecake in a long time so for our last party I decided to combine two great flavors for a pumpkin cheesecake. However, when I went searching for a recipe, I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, and I wanted to make my own crust. What you see here is the combination of two Martha Stewart recipes: Pumpkin Cheesecake and Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie with Gingersnap Crust; and one from the Food Network: Incredibly Crisp Gingersnaps (by Nick Malgieri). 

While I love graham crackers, I didn't want to use them as the crust but I also didn't want to make the pie or buy the gingersnaps. It's really not that much extra work to make the gingersnaps yourself– it's mostly planning to make them the day before so you don't have as much work to do at once (plus letting them cool). And because you'll be crumbling them, there is no need to create perfect cookies. I thought about making them as a sheet and baking them that way but simply made odd-shaped cookies instead.

As we transition between Halloween and Thanksgiving, this is a great fall dessert.

Pumpkin Cheese Cake with a Gingersnap Crust

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup sugar in small bowl for finishing.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, and spices in a bowl; stir well to mix. Using the paddle attachment on mixer, beat butter and sugar together for about 5 minutes, until very light, fluffy, and whitened. Add the egg and continue beating until smooth. Lower the speed and beat in half the dry ingredients, then the molasses. Be sure to stop the mixer and scrape the bowl to catch any excess dry ingredients. Add the remaining dry ingredients, stir until combined. Roll the dough into balls and then roll in the sugar. Place on a parchment lined or non-stick pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. They are ready when the surface is cracked and they are firm to the touch. Let them cool on racks and place in an airtight container overnight.

For the cheesecake:

The gingersnaps above

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

4 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, very soft

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup canned pumpkin puree 

2 tablespoons pumpkin-pie spice

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the center. Pulse the crumbs in a food processor until finely ground. Assemble a 9-inch nonstick springform pan with the raised side of the bottom part facing up.

Mix the cracker crumbs and butter in a medium bowl until moistened; press firmly into the bottom of the pan. Bake until golden in spots, 12 to 15 minutes.

To make the filling: beat cream cheese and sugar on low speed until smooth; mix in flour, careful not to overmix. Add the pumpkin puree, pie spice, and vanilla, mixing until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until each is incorporated before adding the next.

Place the springform pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Pour the filling into springform, and gently smooth the top. Transfer to the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake stay in the oven for another 2 hours. Do not open the oven during that time (I put a note on the oven door)!

Let cool completely after removed from the oven. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours and unmold before serving.

The Dome

At my bridal shower, when I opened the Martha Stewart cake plate and dome that I had registered for and received as a gift (from my sister), someone said, "I didn't know they still made those."

That's far from my world. I love my dome. While part of the reason the dome is out all the time is because I don't have a good place to store it, I also decided it was a good way of keeping it full. While it was empty for several months leading up to the wedding and then after while we were away (I previously wrote about how Greg banned me from making anything to put in the dome in the weeks leading up to the wedding),

By having it on the counter, I am constantly thinking of what I can make to put in it. Of course the recent zucchini muffin disaster doesn't help (I somehow managed to grab the rice flour instead of the gluten-free flour). We try to eat well and it's a game for me to figure out different ways I can make desserts more healthy and not so laden with flour and butter.

Or in the case of the fudgy vs. cakey brownies you have to pick between more butter or more flour– I wanted more butter but Greg wanted more flour. He then reminded me of how I swindled him out of his coffee milkshake in Taos when I didn't like the maple one I got (this scene is replayed in my new book, The Green Dress). So I went with more flour and gave Greg the cakey brownies he wanted.

The dome has become a joke with some of our friends, too. One weekend I found the leftover hot dog and hamburger buns from our lunch by the pool in the dome.

"The dome needed something," my friend Debi said.

It's not that hard to keep the dome full. After our wedding, we had the leftovers from brunch and I put the desserts in it, trying to tempt everyone to eat them before we left for our honeymoon. 

The dome has brought us not just a conversation piece but laughter and as we all know, it's not just about eating food, but often we like to talk about it, too.

Find the cakey brownie recipe from Martha Stewart that I used here.

Finding Taste in Healthy Eating

There is nothing worse than bland food. And not just bland food but waking up in the morning, wanting to eat better and feel better, but knowing that, well there isn't much to look forward to food wise in the day.

While none of our lives should revolve around food, there is some truth to the satisfaction we feel in a good meal. After all, our bodies need to be nourished. It's part of the emotional-spiritual-physical pie of life. 

I remember back in the seventies and eighties how challenging diets were because the knowledge people had about how to use spices was minimal. And ice berg lettuce isn't exactly nutrient rich although it is filled with water. That satisfaction doesn't last long though.

My father ate a very bland diet but my mom always had the bottle of crushed red pepper near her. I often hear how children don't like spicy foods but somehow that crushed red pepper always made it onto my slice of pizza and I got used to the flavor.

In my own quest to eat well, I have finally figured out that it helps to food to look forward to. And that means food with taste. I feel fortunate to live in New Mexico. I see now how coming here in 1994, when I was 22 for graduate school, has been a huge influence on my cooking. I didn't realize how much until I moved away and came back.

I have learned how to use chiles to make food desirable even with less fat. Look forward to more blogs and recipes that use spices, not hot ones, but just enough to give it flavor to make it a meal you'll feel satisfied and ready to continue to create the life you've always wanted by feeling good and looking good.

Check out the black bean soup I use here– from Martha Stewart. I don't use my regular blender to mix the hot beans anymore after the lid was too hot and popped out of my hand that one time. It's not so much fun to clean a black-bean splattered kitchen! I have Ninja blender that works great for hot foods. It also doesn't matter what kind of chiles you use– whatever you can find in the store. I do love sliced avocado on top of my soup though. With some chips it makes a great lunch or meal on a cold day.