That’s right – I went for all 5 food groups on this one, so I’m calling it Thanksgiving dinner! You got your dairy, you got your veggies, you got your fruit, protein, and grains – it’s all there, and it’s scrumptious.
I didn’t make it gluten free, but it’s easy to do. You could just use processed Larabars (flavor of your choice), or create one like the Cheesecake that was on the blog 3 years ago. I used some very delicious ginger snaps, and pecan pie Larabars, for this crust.
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup gingersnap cookie crumbs
- 2 Pecan Pie Larabars, broken into pieces
- 1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil (optional)
- 3 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened
- 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (plain, nothing else in it)
- 4 TBSP cornstarch
- 1 TBSP vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Grating of fresh nutmeg
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 3 room temperature eggs, beaten slightly
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
Crust
Filling
Instructions
- Mix ingredients in a food processor. Press in the bottom of a springform pan. Place a large piece of heavy foil around the outside of the pan, so when you set it in the water bath, there's no possibility of leaking.
- Heat oven to 350.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese well. Add pumpkin, and continue beating.
- Add cornstarch, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Mix well.
- Mix in condensed milk and all the sugar.
- Then mix in eggs, and last mix in the cream.
- Pour over crust in pan.
- Place springform pan in a large shallow pan containing hot water that comes about 1" up the sides of the springform pan.
- Bake the cheesecake until the center barely jiggles, about 1 hour.
- Cool at least 1 hour on a rack.
- Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours before removing the sides of the springform.
Crust
Filling