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Ingredients
- 2 cups of fresh cooked pumpkin OR 1 can of commercial canned pumpkin (about 12 ounces).
- 3 packages (8 ounces each) of cream cheese, at room temperature (I used the fat free cream cheese and it tasted GREAT, even my junk-food junkie friends raved about it)
- 2 cup sugar (or 2/3 cup Stevia if you prefer, or 2 cups of Splenda; or a mixture)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- A graham cracker pie crust in a 10 inch diameter, 3 inch deep springform cheesecake pan or in two 9-inch deep-dish pie plates, unbaked (make your own crust, easy and much better than store bought - click here for directions!)
- dash salt
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger*
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg* (or substitute 3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice for these spices)
- 2 cups evaporated milk (I use fat-free)
Preparation
Step 1
1) Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
2) Make a graham cracker crust in one springform cheesecake pan (10 inch diameter, 3 inches deep) OR in two 9 inch deep pie dishes
Cream Cheese Layer:
3) In a mixing bowl, combine the 3 packages of cream cheese, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract - mix well!
4) Beat in 4 eggs; (either beat them separately, or directly with the other ingredients)
5) Pour the mixture in the pie crust.
Pumpkin Layer:
6) In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin, 1 cup of sugar, a dash of salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (or, instead of these spices, separately; just 3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice).
7) Light beat 3 eggs and blend them in.
8) Mix in the 2 cups of evaporated milk.
9) Pour the pumpkin mixture over cream cream cheese layer that is already in the pie crust. Neither stir it in, nor worry about floating it on top. Just gently pour it in.
10) Bake the pumpkin pie in the oven at 350° for about an 70 minutes; possibly another 10 minutes (until it has firmed up). The cream cheese layer will bubble up to the surface some; that's fine; it gives it the characteristic appearance.
11) Cool the pumpkin pie and refrigerate it! It won't really firm up unless you refrigerate it (it IS a cheesecake!)
It's great with a little whipped cream or topping. Let me know whether you agree (or disagree) that this is the best pumpkin cheesecake ever!