Pumpkin Recipes

Pumpkin Cheesecake
simplyrecipes.com
Crust:
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs - (approximately 4 graham crackers)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1    egg yolk
Filling:
4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups (1 pound) brown sugar
5 large eggs
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 15-ounce cans pumpkin puree*
2 tablespoons bourbon or other whiskey
* You can make your own pumpkin purée by cutting a sugar pumpkin in half, scooping out the seeds, placing the pumpkin halves cut-side down in a roasting pan with a 1/4 inch of water in it, and cooking it in a 350°F oven for an hour, until soft. Scoop out the flesh and purée it in a blender or food processor. Strain out excess water.
Pulse pecans, flour, sugar, and crumbs in a food processor. Add butter and egg yolk. Pulse until mixture is homogenous. Press into bottom of one 9-inch diameter, 3-inch tall springform pan and bake for 10 minutes at 375°F. Remove from oven and let cool.
Drain or strain any liquid from pumpkin purée. Take pumpkin purée and place on several layers of paper towels. Cover with several layers of paper towels and use your hands to gently squeeze out as much liquid as you can from the purée. Not that you will probably go through a lot of paper towels (can use tea towels too). Two 15-ounce cans of puréed pumpkin should yield a little more than 2 cups of purée, with the excess moisture removed. You want exactly 2 cups of the purée.
Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, grated nutmeg, and allspice in a medium bowl. With a wooden spoon (no need for a mixer for this step), mix in the salt, pumpkin purée, vanilla, and bourbon. Beat in the eggs.
In a large bowl, (helps to use a mixer for this step) combine the cream cheese and the brown sugar until fully creamed and smooth (no lumps). Gradually add the pumpkin mixture until fully incorporated. Bring a kettle of water to a boil.
Place crust-baked springform pan in the middle of two layers of large sheets of aluminum foil (to help prevent water-bath moisture from leaking into the pan). Fold the aluminum foil up the sides of the pan and trim. Place the aluminum wrapped pan in a large roasting pan (large enough so that there is room on all sides). Pour the pumpkin cream cheese mixture into the springform pan.
Place the roasting pan containing the springform pan in a 325°F oven on the middle rack. Pour boiling water into the pan so that it comes halfway up the side of the springform pan. Cook for 1 1/2 hours. Turn off the oven heat and prop the oven door open. Let the cheesecake sit in the oven, cooling for another hour. Then remove from oven and let come to room temperature. Once it has cooled down, chill for several hours in the refrigerator, preferably overnight.
When ready to serve, gently remove the cake from the springform pan. To do this well, I recommend a tip by Dorie Greenspan in her book Baking: From My Home to Yours. To help ensure that the cake doesn’t stick to the springform side as you unlock it, first run a blunt knife around the cake and then warm the sides of the pan with a hair dryer. Then carefully unlock the springform and lift off the sides.
Serve cheesecake with caramel sauce, candied pecans, and whipped cream. Makes 16 servings.
Caramel Sauce
1 cup sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don’t work fast, the sugar will burn. Safety first - make sure there are no children under foot and you may want to wear oven mitts; the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water.
Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. Note that this recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted, the next time you attempt it, add a half cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process, this will help the sugar to cook more evenly, though it will take longer as the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize.
As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.
Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then slowly add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big. (Check here for an explanation of why adding the cream makes the mixture bubble up so much.)
Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.
Makes a little over one cup of sauce.
Sugared Pecans
1    egg white
1 Tbsp water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 oz pecans - about 2 cups
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Preheat oven to 300°F.
Put sugar, cinnamon, salt, ground cloves, and ground nutmeg in a plastic bag, shake to mix.
Put egg, water, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until slightly foamy, add pecans and coat well. Lift pecans out of bowl with a slotted spoon and put into the bag of sugar and spices. Shake pecans in bag making sure they are well coated.
Bake 30 minutes on a baking pan lined with silpat or lightly greased aluminum foil. 15 minutes into the baking, stir up the pecans with a fork. Let cool completely before serving. Makes about 2 cups.


Pumpkin Mini Tarts
1 pkg (15oz) refrigerated pie crusts
1 can (15oz) solid pack pumpkin
2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
1 pkg (3.4 oz) cheesecake instant pudding and pie filling
     Powdered sugar (optional)
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 Small orange, zested
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Allow pie crusts to thaw at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Roll pie crust into 12 inch circle. Using a 31/2” scalloped cutter, cut out 12 pastry pieces (9 from outer edge and 3 from center of circle).
Press 1 into each cup of a mini-muffin pan. Prick bottom of pastry Bake 14-18 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes.
Remove tart shells from pan to cooling rack; cool complete. Repeat with remaining crust to make 24 tart shells.
Combine pumpkin, whipped topping, and spice in bowl. Whisk until smooth. Add pudding mix; whisk until smooth and thickened. Refrigerate until ready to use.
 Lightly sprinkle tart shells with powdered sugar from shaker. Pipe pumpkin mixture into shells with the star tip of a decorating device.
 Sprinkle pecans over tarts and top with orange zest.
* You may make your own spice blend using cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger (optional: ground orange peel and cloves). Print this post