Wheeee! Every year at the beginning of fall, I think the same thing: It’s Baking Season. It makes me more than a little giddy.

Now, you guys know that I bake year-round. But when the first autumn chill winds its way through the air, I get an irresistible urge to grab my apron, camp out in the kitchen, and keep the oven running for days on end. I know a lot of folks who are struck with a similar madness when it comes to baking pumpkin treats.

With Halloween just around the corner (a big deal here in the city of Salem), the timing couldn’t be better. We’ve already busted out our spooky kitchen gear. Plus, I just got my wisdom teeth out, so I have a serious need for soft food in my life right about now.

So, this cheesecake is like pumpkin pie dressed up in velvet. It has all the delicious, spicy autumn flavor of traditional pumpkin pie—coupled with the dense creaminess of cheesecake.

This recipe is a happy amalgamation of my traditional cheesecake filling and thick, orange pumpkin puree—served up in the crisp and buttery shortbread crust from that Chocolate Caramel Tart I made a few weeks ago.

I used all brown sugar (not a mix of white and brown, like many pumpkin cheesecake recipes), which adds faint notes of molasses. A heady drizzle of cognac replaces traditional vanilla extract and makes the whole thing just that much more deliciously fragrant.

Oh, and…pumpkin and chocolate? You better believe it. It’s not a combination that I’d normally think of right off the bat, but the flavors are great together. Serve it topped with whipped cream and fresh chocolate shavings. (Or skip the chocolate and go a la mode with a fat scoop of ginger ice cream.)

This is the kind of dessert you want when you’ve spent the whole afternoon trouncing through an orchard, picking apples. (Or, you know, for breakfast the next day.)

In a word: Yum!

Canned pumpkin versus fresh pumpkin puree

It’s not often that you’ll hear me say this about stuff that comes out of a can, but: I love canned pumpkin. I’ve gone through the trouble to break down a fresh pumpkin before for baking, and honestly? I think the canned stuff tastes just as good. Plus, it’s just so convenient.

When you’re shopping, be sure to buy 100% pure canned pumpkin—not pumpkin pie mix, which is already doctored up with sugar and other ingredients. Pure, canned pumpkin is also sometimes labeled “pure pumpkin puree” or “solid pack pumpkin.” When in doubt, just double check the ingredient list.

How to make your own pumpkin pie spice

If you can’t find it (or don’t want to buy a bottle just to make a cheesecake), you can make pumpkin pie spice yourself out of ingredients you probably have sitting in your larder.

The proportions below yield more than enough for this cheesecake. Store leftovers in a tightly sealed jar, as you would any spice. If you like, you could toss in a little allspice, too.

Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 Tbls. ground cinnamon
1 Tbls. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves

Yields 3 Tbls.

A note on cheesecake timing

Make this cheesecake the day before you want to serve it. This recipe is in two parts. Three, if you count the final chilling.

It takes a few hours to bake. First, make and bake the crust and let it cool. Then, make the filling and bake the cheesecake. When it’s done, it needs to cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 6 hours to set up properly.

Let the baking begin!

Brown Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake with Chocolate Shortbread Crust

Crust (See the original Chocolate Caramel Tart here.)
1 1/2 cups flour
5 Tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder (not sweetened hot chocolate mix)
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
10 Tbls. butter, diced and softened
1/2 cup + 2 Tbls. confectioner’s sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Filling
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbls. cognac
1 15-oz. can 100% pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
24 oz. cream cheese (that’s 3 8-oz. bricks), at room temperature
1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
4 eggs

Makes 1 9-inch cheesecake

Make the crust for the cheesecake

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter or oil and set it aside.

Put the powdered sugar and butter in the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl if you’re mixing by hand).

Beat together until well combined.

Toss in the egg yolks and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

The mixture will be thick, fluffy, and a pale, buttery yellow.

Add the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

Beat until the dry ingredients are well combined. You want the mixture to be a uniform color and texture. It will feel kind of like Play Doh.

Scrape the dough out and plop it into your pan. With your hands, press the dough so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pan (stop maybe a half an inch from the top edge).

You want the dough to be relatively even in thickness, but don’t make yourself nuts.

Prick the dough in several places with a fork. The butter in the dough will release steam as it bakes, and those holes allow it to escape—and keep your crust from getting big air bubbles.

Pop the pan into your pre-heated, 350-degree oven. Bake it for about 20 minutes, until it’s completely opaque in color and the edges are starting to brown.

When it’s done, yank the pan out of the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool. If you do have air bubbles under the crust, poke one or two very small holes in the crust and gently press the air out to deflate it.

Make the pumpkin cheesecake filling

When your crust has cooled to room temperature, make the filling.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. (If you left your oven on, don’t forgot to drop the heat. The cheesecake itself bakes at 25 degrees cooler than the crust.)

Put the cream cheese in the bowl of your mixer. Beat it to break it up.

Add the brown sugar.

Beat until light and fluffy.

Toss in the eggs. (I like to break them into a separate bowl before adding them to the mixing bowl. It’s easier to fish out any little bits of shell that wind up in there by accident.)

Beat well to incorporate the eggs. The mixture will be a thick, soupy light brown, kind of like melted chocolate ice cream.

Toss in the pumpkin.

And the cognac. (I keep a bottle of cognac in the house for baking, but if you don’t want to bother with it, you can totally substitute vanilla extract.)

Beat to combine. The filling will be thick and creamy.

Toss in the flour and pumpkin pie spice.

Beat gently to combine.

Bake the cheesecake!

Pour the filling into your cooled crust.

Pour it just until it fills the crust. Depending on how high up the sides of the pan your crust comes, you may wind up with a little extra filling.

If that’s the case, grease a few ramekins and bake the leftover filling by itself, as a pudding. It’ll be just delicious. (Serve garnished with a couple of shortbread cookies.)

Pop the pan into your pre-heated 325-degree oven. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, until it *looks* set (i.e. firm and opaque) but the center jiggles a little when you move the pan.

Turn the heat off, crack the oven door about 4 or 5 inches. Leave the cheesecake in there (with the door cracked open) for an additional 3o minutes.

Cheesecakes are fickle creatures, and are incredibly sensitive to changes in temperature, which can cause big cracks on the surface of the filling. Leaving the oven door open like this lets the cheesecake cool gently, and will help you minimize (or even avoid) cracking.

Now, no matter how hard I try, my cheesecakes always crack. (Looks a little like the Grand Canyon, eh?)

Luckily, this is strictly an aesthetic issue—and one that’s easily remedied with any kind of topping. A dollop or two of whipped cream, and no one will be any wiser.

Yank the cheesecake out of the oven when that last 30 minutes is up. Then, cool it in the pan on a rack for another 30 minutes. Then, pop in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight before serving.

When the cheesecake has chilled, slice, serve, and enjoy!

Reader Cheesecake Photos!

October 14, 2009—Here’s the last piece of the pumpkin cheesecake that Dave made from this recipe, which he brought over to his friend Tina’s house (she’s the gal behind Carrots ‘N’ Cake). According to Dave, the filling recipe filled two store-bought pie crusts (one Oreo and one graham cracker) perfectly. Thanks for sharing!

Photo courtesy of: Carrots ‘N’ Cake

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This French Cheesecake is my favorite Secret Weapon Dessert. Easy to make. Easy on the eyes. Practically guaranteed to stun everyone—including your best friend’s chatty new girlfriend—at your dinner party into blissful, dessert-nibbling silence.

This recipe comes from an old family friend. In fact, a bunch of you requested the recipe when I first posted about it. French cheesecakes are typically lighter and fluffier than regular cheesecakes. (What’s that, Mouse?!? It’s less dense? So that means I can eat…more…of it?)

This cheesecake has a crisp, buttery crust. The filling is smooth, tangy, and creamy.

Get yourself a springform pan

You really need a springform to make a proper cheesecake.

A springform pan is made of two pieces: a flat bottom and a tall ring that serves as the sides of the pan. The clip on the side opens up, widening the ring, so that you can remove your cheesecake easily and in one piece. (After all, it’s nice to be able to admire it for a moment or two before you devour it.)

This recipe calls for an 8-inch springform pan, like this one from Kaiser Bakeware:

A note on cheesecake toppings

Like any classic cheesecake, you can serve this with any topping you like. Classic pineapple. A decadent chocolate ganache. Slices of fresh mango or strawberry.

This time, I opted for a raspberry orange sauce (more on the sauce on Monday).

Alrighty! To the kitchen!

French Cheesecake

For the crust
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter (that’s 1 stick), softened
1 egg yolk
2 Tbls. sugar

For the cheesecake filling
1 lb. cream cheese
1 Tbls. flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated (you’ll need both the yolks + the whites)
4 Tbls. sour cream
4 Tbls. heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Serves 6-8, depending on how much you can bear to share

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Butter your springform pan or spray it with oil, then set it aside.

Make the dough for the cheesecake crust

Leave the butter on the counter for 10 or 15 minutes to soften up a little. Then put the butter and flour into the bowl of your mixer.

Beat on high for a few minutes to combine the butter and flour. At first, the mixture will be dry and raggy looking, like this:

Beat the mixture until it’s smoother and more uniform, like this:

Toss in the sugar and the egg yolk.

Beat to combine. Your mixture will be soft and yellow-ish, like good, fresh Play-Doh.

Gather the dough together in your hands. Press it together into a smooth, flat puck shape.

With a bencher or sharp knife, cut one third out of the dough.

Gather each hunk of dough into a ball. Set the larger ball (the one with two-thirds of the dough) aside for now.

Bake the bottom crust of the cheesecake

Take the smaller ball (the one with one-third of the dough) and press it into the bottom of your springform pan. (That’s right…no rolling! Just smoosh it down with your fingers.)

Keep pressing and spreading the dough until it completely covers the bottom of the pan.

You want it to look about like this. Nevermind that you may have some visible fingerprints. Just be sure that the coverage is fairly even, so it bakes consistently.

Pop the pan into your preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 8 minutes, until the crust is brown on the edges, like this:

Set it aside to cool while you make the cheesecake filling. Give the bowl of your mixer a quick wash, as you’ll need it clean to make the filling.

DROP THE OVEN TEMPERATURE TO 350 DEGREES. (Sorry to shout, but your cheesecake will be very sad if you bake it at a full 400 degrees…)

Start the cheesecake filling

Separate 4 eggs. Keep the yolks and the whites. You’ll need ‘em both.

Put the sugar and cream cheese into the (washed and dried) bowl of your mixer.

Beat them together until smooth.

Scrape down the sides of your bowl.

Toss in the egg yolks.

Beat together until smooth, creamy, and glossy.

Add the sour cream, heavy cream, and vanilla.

Beat until well combined.

Scrape the mixture out into a large, clean mixing bowl. Quickly wash and dry the mixing bowl that you used for the filling. (Last time, I promise.)

Set the mixture aside for a minute while you finish up your crust.

Finish the cheesecake crust

At this point, your pan should be cool enough to touch comfortably. Grab your remaining ball of dough. Break off a chunk.

You’re going to stick the dough to the pan the same way that you did with the bottom crust. Take the chunk of dough and smoosh it against the side of the pan. Press it with your fingers so that it’s flat and spreads out.

Repeat this process with the rest of the dough, until the sides of the pan are completely covered. Leave about a half an inch or so between the crust and the top of the pan, like this:

Go around the dough one more time, concentrating on where it meets the bottom crust. Be sure that the seal here is good, and that there aren’t any holes. (That way, your cheesecake filling will be completely contained when you pour it in.)

Set the pan aside while you finish your filling.

Finish the cheesecake filling

Put the egg whites into the (washed and dried) bowl of your mixer. Beat on high for a few minutes, until the egg whites fluff up, turn opaque, and hold a stiff peak like this:

Take a scoop of the beaten egg whites and plop it into the cream cheese filling.

With a spatula, fold the mixture to gently incorporate the egg whites into the cream cheese.

Add the rest of the egg whites to the bowl.

Fold again to combine. (You’re gently folding, instead of vigorously stirring, so that you don’t completely deflate the egg whites. They’re what will help give your cheesecake its poof.)

When the egg whites are completely incorporated, the mixture will be light, fluffy, and look kind of…well…a little fizzy.

Pour the finished cheesecake filling into your prepared pan.

Pop the cheesecake into your preheated oven (be sure that you dropped the heat to 350 after baking the bottom crust).

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. The cheesecake is done when it has a nice brown top and feels firm in the center when pressed with a finger. (Even when it feels firm, the cheesecake will be ever-so-slightly jiggly when you take it out of the oven. That’s just fine.)

(Mmmm, cheesecake.)

Set the cheesecake to cool on the counter, away from any drafts.

The bit about keeping it out of drafts is important. As it cools, the surface of your cheesecake will crack a little. If it’s exposed to a draft, those cracks will be bigger.

The surface will also sink down, like this:

As you can see, mine still got a fairly impressive crack down the center. That’s just fine.

Unmold the cheesecake, serve, and enjoy!

When it’s totally cool, remove the outer ring of your springform pan. (Pop the clip open, gently spread the ring open, and slide it up and off.)

Your crust should be golden brown, like this:

Slice and serve!

I whipped up a little orange-raspberry sauce.

I’ll post the recipe for that up on Monday.

Enjoy!

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