Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake with Ginger Pecan Crust

Hello everybody! I said I would be mostly absent from my blogs due to Holidays, Family Commitments, etc... But I am here today to post about my baking adventures with my friends from The Cake Slice.

This year we are baking from"The Cake Book" by Tish Boyle . If you LOVE baking that book is a "MUST HAVE"! I really think so!!! I've gotten great recipes from that book and my husband feels like it was money well spent! How wouldn't he? When he gets to enjoy all the wonderful things I bake.

So, this month we voted to bake a delicious Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake with Ginger-Pecan Crust. It is really, REALLY easy to make! Even if you have never made a cheesecake in your life. This cheesecake is also very forgiving! I had MANY MISHAPS (including having to postpone baking the batter for about 3 hours because I didn't have a roasting pan -which I was sure I did- for the water bath) while baking it and still turned out perfect! Beautiful! and with no cracks!!

The secrets for this cake to avoid cracking are the use of cornstarch in the batter which helps with the structure of the cake, baking it slowly in a waterbath and running a paring knife around it as soon as it gets out of the oven.

I am not going to share the recipe publicly this time! But if you are interested in making this delicious pumpkin cheesecake to impress anybody at Thanksgiving please send me an e-mail to: love.for.coffee@gmail.com and I will send it to you... Here in the blog I am choosing to invite you TO GET THIS WONDERFUL BOOK! Let's support authors and people who make our life sweeter! Don't you think?

So... I will share some pictures of my cake below. I also want to mention that registered it for a contest (There was a Thanksgiving dinner in the apartment clubhouse where I live and all registered desserts would participate in a contest) I didn't win but I didn't feel bad at all... MY dessert was the only one that was completely gone! And ... I lost to a "BANANA PUDDING FROM A BOX" Which was really SHOCKING! This cheesecake definitely should have won the prize! And it's not the fact that I made it why I say so! All the credit goes to the creator of this recipe ... Tish Boyle! ... It truly had no rivals that could compete with it in that contest!!! It was creamy, the flavors were balanced and still deep! The crust was just delicious and like no other crust for a cheesecake I've ever had! it tasted fresh and warm at the same time and to make it even better it was topped with homemade whipped cream and roasted sugared pumpkin seeds with a hint of cinnamon that just took it to a higher level. Just perfect to have with a cup of strong coffee I think.

I wish I could share a slice with you:

© Paloma King

I'll be MIA

Hello everybody... so I will not be around (consistently) for a little while... you know... with all the holidays and stuff... But I will still stop by every once in a while! Have a Sweet Thursday and keep making desserts to share with us in the future!

For sure I'll be here on the 20th of each month to share about the cakes I bake with "The Cake Slice"

I'll miss you all! Have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!

Give THANKS!!!

© Paloma King

Sweet Thursday and Peach Pie Recipe!

Hello everyone! It's Sweet Thursday again! Thank you for joining us! Hopefully we'll see you every Thursday! Take this space as a place where you can show off your desserts, get ideas/recipes from others or just enjoy the beautiful sweet treats displayed in the pictures of everyone's posts!

Remember, to join you just need to link up to a post of your creation where the "star" is something sweet (candy, dessert of some sort)  - not your kids or hubby, no matter how sweet they are - and hopefully you can post the recipe too! Please take our "Sweet Thursday Button" if you want to be a member!

<center><a href="http://love4coffee.blogspot.com/p/sweet-thursday.html" target="_blank"><img alt="The Coffee Shop" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzALKyCZ9gd223wtjVPPobBwog9x6ih-cS1IEZ68qANNbzQQmP-wg4c7IDGlexxHmHxIhWWMpNExeJNtG_opkVFCmpUHhx7_LT13dLmIvwAYqL4n_XgZsk6PryJ3Q3_ZD2cxXjgQBkKXw/s1600/sweet+thursday+button.jpg "/></a></center>

I am excited and expecting more people to join us, right now we aren't many but I am sure soon we'll have more people interested to be part of our Sweet Thursdays!


So, here we go with my recipe:

Peach pie:

 

Ingredients:

• Double Pie Crust (Your favorite recipe or store bought! I will share my recipe at the end)
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter -room temperature-
• 6 large fresh ripe peaches, pitted, peeled and sliced (I used 4 because that's all I had and I was happy it wasn't a humongous and too filled pie... but you can use up to 10 peaches)
• 1 egg 
• 1 Tbsp. water
  

Directions:

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter. Mix until it looks "crumbly"
3. Place one pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Scoop in one layer of peaches. Top with some of the crumbly sugar mixture, layer more peaches followed by the sugar mixture and continue the "layering" until you've used all the ingredients for the filling.
4. Place the 2nd. pie crust on top (you can even do a lattice topping but I just go for the easier route, plus I love my crust recipe so much that I want it to cover all the peaches) Just make sure you cut about 4 slits into the top crust so the steam can go through it. Close the edges together (as pretty as you can).
4. Whisk the egg with the tbsp. of water and brush the top of the pie with it.
5. Bake on the center rack in the oven for 1 hour or until it has a beautiful golden brown color along the crust and the peach filling is bubbling in the center. - to prevent the edges from 'over browning' you can wrap them (just the edges) all around with aluminum foil.
6. Take out of the oven and cool down to a nice warm temperature (warm is best!)

 Now my pie crust recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

I teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

6 tablespoons butter (softened)

6 tablespoons shortening

6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

If this is your first time making this pie crust, you MIGHT want to make a double batch to be sure you have enough crust.

Directions:

Mix in a large bowl:

2 cups all-purpose flour

I teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

Then cut in using a dough blender or fork (but not your hands):

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons shortening

6 to 8 tablespoons ice water - I use 7 - (just until it all comes together, don't add more water because it would be ruined)

Wrap your pie crust in plastic wrap. Then place in refrigerator for 20 or more minutes, while you make the pie filling, then, when your pie crust has had plenty of time to cool, divide it into two, equal halves, roll them out and use them for your pie! Enjoy! 




© Paloma King