For Convenience's Sake: Pumpkin Cheezecake

Chococat says, "All this pumpkin cheezecake for me?!"




Ahh, that Princeton Sunday evening half-light...

Whoa!  Two posts in two days?  I’m baking this (again) tomorrow and I was reviewing the recipes.  Typing it into one post helps me prepare.  Yes, I take baking seriously.

As with my peeve about putting adjectives in front of recipe titles, I also dislike putting "vegan" or "gluten-free" in recipe titles.  This is a pumpkin cheesecake recipe.  It just happens not to have eggs, dairy, or gluten in it.  Do you really need to know that from the title or can you read a list of ingredients?  Well, I suppose there could always be a mis-print.  End snark.

Pictures will be forthcoming as Blogger's not cooperating at the moment.  Must be a popular time to blog, 22:03 on a Friday.  The Cure's "10:15 on a Saturday Night" popped into my head.  I used to be pretty good at playing the guitar solo for that song.

Pumpkin Cheezecake with Gingerbread Crust

Crust modified from Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Vegan with a Vengeance, 236-7.

Filling modified from Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:

3/4 cup brown rice flour

3/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free Baking Flour

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup margarine, cut into tablespoon-sized chunks and chilled

1 tablespoon molasses (or agave or maple syrup)

2 tablespoons cold water (or cold non-dairy milk)

Filling:

12.3 ounces silken tofu, firm or soft

8 ounces non-dairy cream cheeze

1 cup pureed pumpkin [I used a combination of pumpkin and sweet potato]

1/2 cup agave nectar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (or mini chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a 9-inch glass pie plate.  In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the crust.  Cut in the margarine with a pastry cutter until the mixture forms pea-sized clumps.  Add the molasses and water or milk one tablespoon at a time until the crust sticks together.  

Mush it into a ball then press it into the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan.  Bake for ten minutes or until it turns golden.  Remove from the oven and set aside.  Lower the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit once it’s done.

While that’s baking…

In a food processor or blender, puree the tofu, cream cheeze, pumpkin, agave, cornstarch, and spices (if you have a small blender or food processor, blend the tofu first so that you don’t have tofu chunks, then add the other ingredients).  Pour the mixture into the par-baked crust.  Sprinkle the walnuts or chips across the top.  Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 50 minutes or until the center is set.  Cool in the partially-opened oven for a half an hour, then cool completely on a rack before refrigerating.  Refrigerate for eight hours or overnight before serving.  Refrigerate uncovered for the preliminary cooling, but cover in plastic for storage thereafter.

Notes: I used agave nectar instead of sugar in the filling because I was eating this by me onesie for about eight days, and I didn’t want a sugar shock every time I had dessert.  If you want to use the original measure, it’s 1 cup of sugar.  I used walnuts, but feel free to use other chunks.  Unless you’re keeping the cheezecake in a pie saver, you’ll want some nuts, chocolate, or sprinkles on top of the filling in order to keep plastic wrap off the surface of the cheezy part.  Walnuts will leave purplish stains in the cheeze after a few days, but it’s fine and edible.

I cut into it while it was still warm because I wanted a piece before I went off to the library of a Sunday evening.  The tip of the piece flopped a little since the centre wasn’t set, but it was tasty warm.

Pumpkin cheezecake and pumpkin quiche!