Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake

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We had this last weekend for Canadian Thanksgiving. In fact, I've made this cheesecake for Thanksgiving and Christmas, for the last 3 years, and it is always delicious!

1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham crackers                    

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted                    

3x  8 ounce packages of cream cheese, softened                    

1 cup canned pumpkin  

(I usually make pumpkin pie also, and one of those large cans of pumpkin is enough for both the pie and the cheesecake)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar                  

1/4 cup pure maple syrup or maple-flavored syrup                    

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

3 eggs, slightly beaten

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. For crust, in a medium bowl, combine finely crushed graham crackers, granulated sugar, and the melted butter. Press crumb mixture onto the bottom and about 1 inch up the side of an ungreased 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

 

For filling, in a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, the cream cheese, pumpkin, the 1/4 cup maple syrup, and the vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined.

 

Gently pour filling into crust-lined pan. Place springform pan in a shallow baking pan. Bake for 60 - 70 minutes* or until center appears nearly set when gently shaken.

 

Cool in springform pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a small thin knife, loosen crust from side of springform pan. Cool for 30 minutes more. Remove side of springform pan; cool for 1 hour. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.

*My brother-in-law taught me this: If you want to avoid having cracks in the cheesecake, you need to cool it as slowly and gradually as possible. To do this is a bit of an experiment with your oven. You will have to turn it off earlier, for me it's about 15 minutes (so 45min cooking time total) and then you leave the cheesecake in the oven to cool to room temp. The reason you turn it off early is that it will continue cooking because the oven is still hot. After another 45 minutes, I take it out and leave it on a wire rack to cool some more before refrigerating. Sometimes I leave the oven open a crack so it is not such a drastic change in temperature. Even if you do all of this, there are no guarantees, sometimes it still cracks. Other people swear by cooking cheesecake in a water bath for better results. For this particular cheesecake, I like this method better.


Makes 10 servings. I garnished with whipped cream and cinnamon but another option would be a fresh caramel sauce.

Chocolate & Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

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I made these last Halloween and they were a huge hit, especially for the chocolate-lovers in the family! The original recipe is from Martha Stewart, though mine did not turn out "mini" at all.

For the cookies:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1 large egg

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

For the filling:

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup canned solid pack pumpkin

Pinch of cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

 

Prepare cookies: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. Place butter, shortening, and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in half the flour mixture, then the milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining flour mixture.

 

Drop about 2 teaspoons dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool 10 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets and transfer to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely.

 

Prepare filling: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together cream cheese, butter, and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg; whip until smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary.

Pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons filling on the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping the flat sides down.

 

 

 

Note:

You may be wondering the difference between dutch process cocoa powder and natural cocoa powder. When I first made this I didn't know and had to look it up, so here's the deal:

 

Dutch-process cocoa powder is made from cocoa (cacao) beans that have been washed with a potassium solution, to neutralize their acidity. Natural cocoa powder is made from cocoa beans that are simply roasted, then pulverized into a fine powder. Aside from neutralizing the acidity, "Dutching" cocoa powder makes it darker and can help mellow the flavor of the beans.

 

Because natural cocoa powder hasn’t had its acidity tempered, it’s generally paired with baking soda (which is alkali) in recipes. Dutch-process cocoa is frequently used in recipes with baking powder, as it doesn’t react to baking soda like natural cocoa does.

Apple Spice Cupcakes

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Fall is definitely my favorite season and we were celebrating a great little guy's birthday this week so I decided to try out some fall themed cupcakes!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temp
3 apples shredded
2 tbsp plus 3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
Pinch of nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners (I prefer foil). In a saucepan over med-high heat, melt 2 tbsp of the butter. Add shredded apple and 2 tbsp of sugar and cook, stirring often, until the apples are translucent and soft, 5-7 minutes; set aside to cool.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. In another bowl, with an electric mixer on med/high speed, beat the remaining 6 tbsp butter and the 3/4 cup sugar together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add the sour cream and reserved apple mixture, beating until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Frost the cupcakes with desired frosting and served. Frosted cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Honey Cream Cheese Icing
These particular cupcakes would work with a plain buttercream as well but the cream cheese icing was certainly delicious.

12 oz Cream Cheese, at room temp (about 1.6 of those boxes you can buy or 350g)
6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tbsp honey

In a bowl, with an electric mixer on med-high speed, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the sugar and honey and mix until thoroughly combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Use right away, or if the consistency is too soft, refrigerate until the frosting is spreadable, about 15 minutes.