I cheat. I do.
I love pie crust and can NOT for the life of me make it well, so I am going to spend tens of thousands of dollars to learn how and no longer buy it pre-made. My public persona reasons that I don’t need the carbs anyway, hence the lack of pastry. Yeah, yeah, save a few calories and a few pancreatic cells… Whatever.
Anyway, I really do hate cheesecake with graham cracker crust. Its sacrilegious to me- No self respecting NuYawkah eats cheesecake with soggy grahams and sour cream glop schmeared all over the top of it as a disguise for a measly crack or too-toasted spot. Gimmie mine naked!!
This Thanksgiving, I very cleverly scheduled an intense travel trip right before the holiday. Figuring on picking up every disease known to Man in airplane terminals and potties, I had the foresight to consider getting the Crud. Benjamin Dyer’s email came a’callin’ and I made haste to order our dinner from those rockin’ dudes at Simpatica. All I did, once I could finally get out of bed and keep the slobbering to a minimum, was make little pumpkin cheescakes. No real recipe, and it needs work, but it came out alright. I’d even whip it up later on with cream as a mousse, perhaps the next day. Or decorate a morning bagel with it.
Get Busy
About 16 ounces pureed pumpkin of any kind, fresh or canned (you KNOW fresh is best!)
3 eggs, room temperature
1 package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon table salt
1/4 cup brown or muscovado sugar
1/4 cup Splenda
1 teaspoon Allspice
2 tablespoons Frangelico
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
A kettle of boiling water
6 one cup ramekins
A lasagne pan (I use metal)
Get It Done
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Blend eggs, alcohol, vanilla paste and pumpkin together. Add salt, sugar, Splenda and Allspice. Blend in cream cheese (I used a strong immersion blender to make sure there were no lumps).
Place ramekins in the lasagne pan. Fill the ramekins equally with batter. Place the pan in the oven and carefully pour the kettle of boiling water into the pan, making the water level about halfway up the ramekins (This, Sports Fans, is called a Bain Maire). Bake about 10 minutes on 35o and then reduce the oven to 275 for another 20 minutes or so.
When they are set in the middle, be darn careful taking the hot, sloshy pan of water out of the oven and use tongs to remove the ramekins. I’d let them cool a good while on a rack unti they can be chilled. It tastes better cold.
I recommend a little whipping cream, some vanilla paste and a dash of Splenda as a topping.
