Chocolate-Crusted Pumpkin Cheesecake
I don’t like pumpkin pie. If I am forced to eat it for the sake of politeness, I can choke it down by taking a bite and then taking a big drink of milk. Another bite, another drink. Until the chilly, squishy ordeal is over.
My solution is to offer to bring the Thanksgiving dessert, and what I bring is a glorious creation called Chocolate-Crusted Pumpkin Cheesecake. Just…MULL that for a minute. Chocolate-crusted. Cheesecake. And a little pumpkin to make it Thanksgivingish.
Chocolate-Crusted Pumpkin Cheesecake
Crust:
9 oz (half package) Oreos creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (but I do recommend going with the brand here), CRUSHED (cookie part and creme part, all mushed up together) (keep other half of package nearby on counter in case you get hungry while cooking)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, melted
Pumpkin mixture:
1 and 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (PACK it, darling)
3 eggs, slightly beaten
5 oz evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cheese mixture:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
24 oz softened cream cheese
Now Get To Work:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix together the three crust ingredients. Press mixture firmly into the bottom of a buttered 9×13 pan. Bake until crust is set, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool crust completely.
In a bowl (the recipe specifies “in a bowl,” like maybe you’d do it in your bare palms), stir together the five pumpkin mixture ingredients. Set aside.
In the mixer, combine all the cheese mixture ingredients EXCEPT EXCEPT EXCEPT the cream cheese. Not the cream cheese! Wait on the cream cheese! When the other cheese mixture ingredients (the ones that do not include the cheese) are nice and mixed, THEN add the cream cheese, and beat on high speed until smooth. Take out 1/4th of the cheese mixture (this is not a moment for measurements and precision, this is a moment for scooping out what looks like about a quarter of what’s in the bowl and not worrying about it) and set it aside to be used two steps from now.
With mixer running at low speed, add the pumpkin mixture to the cheese mixture and mix until combined and smooth.
Pour pumpkin-cheese mixture into pan. Drop dollops of the reserved cheese mixture over the pumpkin-cheese mixture. Use a thin metal spatula or knife to gently pull the cheese dollops through the pumpkin to make swirls. This step never goes smoothly for me, and I end up all frustrated as the thick white stuff rides along happily stuck to the spatula and refuses to “swirl” through the liquidy orange stuff. Don’t worry. Do the best you can and it will still be delicious and lovely.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-55 minutes, or until center of cheesecake is just set (jiggle the pan a little–does the center sloop around, or does it seem pretty firm? if firm, take the pan out of the oven). Remove from oven and cool 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours. Eat in handfuls directly from pan in fridge. Or, I suppose you could slice it into pretty rectangles (or pie-shaped triangles, if this will better appease the people wondering where their pumpkin pie is) and serve it on plates with a little squiggle of melted chocolate. WHATEVS. –Swistle
Posted: November 15th, 2007 under Cooking/Food, Personally recommended by Swistle.
Comments: 21
Comments
Comment from Liss
Time: November 15, 2007, 6:05 am
This sounds fabulous, but I have to say that good pumpkin pie should never be chilly or squishy. I’ve had pie that’s both and it is the nasty, but that is not good pumpkin pie. That is like…pumpkin-flavored sponge? Ew.
Comment from Jenny
Time: November 15, 2007, 6:06 am
Sweet baby turkeys — they will think I’m a GENIUS. Shopping for chocolate-crusted goodness tonight.
Comment from Jill
Time: November 15, 2007, 6:35 am
Just to clarify…the crust is made of the whole crushed cookie (ie including cream filling) or just the chocolate crushable cookie part?
Might have to try this this year. I don’t like cheesecake or pumpkin pie, but we’re having about 207908 extra family who were ‘invited’ over for dessert, so it would be nice to have a few options.
Comment from Swistle
Time: November 15, 2007, 6:40 am
Comment from Tessie
Time: November 15, 2007, 6:50 am
I sort of like the suspense of seeing a new SundryBuzz entry, but no new Swistle entry, and knowing that all is not lost! It could STILL be you!
I tried making some pumpkin cheesecake tarts this weekend and the cream cheese assimilation into the pumpkin thing…did not go well. I’m wondering if it has to be REALLY room temp, and not just “left out in the trunk of the car while I stopped for gas on the way home from the grocery store”. Or is it more about the MIXING?
Comment from Dawn
Time: November 15, 2007, 7:43 am
OH MY GOD that sounds heavenly. I’m definitely going to have to try that.
Comment from Erica
Time: November 15, 2007, 8:46 am
This recipe is what made me fall in love with you all those posts ago.
Comment from She Likes Purple
Time: November 15, 2007, 9:23 am
I’m making this! Looks heavenly.
Comment from Bunny
Time: November 15, 2007, 9:39 am
Swistle, you need to write a cookbook! Seriously you have the BEST things to bake!
Comment from launchingsloth
Time: November 15, 2007, 8:42 pm
I’m all for bucking tradition. Buck you, pumpkin pie! Hello, choclatey cheesecake!
Comment from launchingsloth
Time: November 15, 2007, 8:43 pm
. . .er, chocolate-y. Or whatever.
Comment from Melinda
Time: November 15, 2007, 9:09 pm
HOW did you KNOW I was just looking for my final Thanksgiving recipes!? I’m SO making this. The family will love it. Thanks Swistle!
Comment from Anonymous
Time: November 15, 2007, 11:53 pm
I made this last Thanksgiving after reading about it on your blog Swistle. YUMMMMMM it was a hit.
Comment from honeybecke
Time: November 15, 2007, 11:54 pm
Annon: is me!
I made this last Thankgiving after reading (and drooling) about it on your blog Swistle.
YUMMMMMM it was a hit.
Pingback from Pocklock » 18: Domestically Challenged
Time: November 18, 2007, 9:21 am
[…] I really wanted to make this for Thanksgiving dessert, but I’m thinking that the way my kitchen luck is heading, it’s probably not a good idea. There’s a lot of room for error in that recipe. […]
Comment from el-e-e
Time: November 19, 2007, 5:36 am
Another amazing-sounding recipe from Swistle - what are you, Julia Childs reincarnated of something?? THANK GOD.
Comment from el-e-e
Time: November 19, 2007, 5:37 am
Um, that’s “or” something. Typos, sheesh. Ruined my moment.
Comment from superblondgirl
Time: November 20, 2007, 1:31 pm
Mmmmm…. I am having both an orgasm and a heart attack just reading this.
Comment from Courtney
Time: November 20, 2007, 2:36 pm
To everyone else, I made this way back when I saw it on Swistle’s blog and then also ever since. No just in pumpkin season. Seriously. MMMMmmmmmm Yummy!
Thanks, Swistle!
Comment from Kelley O
Time: November 21, 2007, 7:35 pm
Made this tonight, it’s in the refrigerator awaiting tomorrow. It was pretty easy to make too, probably because the instructions were so awesome! Will report back tomorrow on how it tastes, but it surely do SMELL good. Can’t WAIT.
Comment from Janet
Time: November 23, 2007, 4:40 pm
Just made this today for my nieces and nephews (6 in total, with ages ranging from 6 to 18 yrs old) who are visting from Southern California. They absolutely loved it! Thanks for the recipe Swistle and Sundry!
Side note: If you heat the reserved cream cheese mixture for 1 minute on high in the microwave it will “swirl” into the pumpkin mixture perfectly.
Janet from Northern California
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