Cheesecake for the holidays

[Guest guest]

Over the centuries, pumpkin pies have gotten a lot more decadent! In today’s newsletter we are going to show you how to make a pumpkin cheesecake. This recipe has very little sugar and no gluten, yet is rich and delicious.

Be sure to make this ahead of time since it takes a long time to chill.

Here’s what you need:

3 eight-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature 2 cups pureed pumpkin 3 eggs 1/4 cup sour cream 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup (or to taste) 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon ground cloves 2 teaspoons vanilla extract pie pan

Crust (optional)

2 cups of powdered nuts (we often use almonds) 1/2 stick of butter melted 2 tablespoons of maple syrup

Begin by cooking your pumpkin. You can use any type of winter squash for the recipe. Besides pumpkin I also like acorn squash.

Of course you can use canned pumpkin for this recipe, but there are growing concerns about the chemicals found in canned food.

To cook your pumpkin, first cut it into several pieces and remove all the loose pulp and seeds. (Save the seeds for roasting!)

Put the pumpkin slices in a large baking dish and cook at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour until a fork easily slides into the pumpkin.

While the pumpkin is cooking you can prepare the optional crust.

Combine the powdered nuts with the melted butter and maple syrup. Mix well and then press the nut mixture into the bottom of a pie pan. Set aside.

After the pumpkin is thoroughly cooked, let it cool until you can easily handle it. Separate the pumpkin meat from the outer peel.

Measure out 2 cups of pumpkin and add it to the rest of the ingredients.

Using a food processor, hand mixer or your own biceps, mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the pie pan.

Bake at 350 for an hour. It is done when the top is browned and a fork goes into the middle and comes out clean.

Let it cool on the counter for thirty minutes and then chill it in the fridge for four hours before eating.

We hope you enjoy this scrumptious cheesecake!

We don’t eat gluten and only small amounts of sugar at our house so you can see we tailored this recipe to suit our needs. If you don’t eat dairy you could try dairy substitutes to make this recipe.

Besides being a great pie, pumpkin is delicious in soups or even simply roasted with a little butter and salt.

Suzi

List Owner

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