Now for something a little more sophisticated: cheesecake. I have eaten cheesecake but have never made one. To welcome fall I felt this pumpkin version fit the bill quite nicely. While some cheesecake recipes have you cook it in a water bath, this one didn't so it makes it a bit less complicated in terms of technique.

Pumpkin Cheesecake
From Gourmet's Best Desserts

For the crust:

• 1 1/2 cups crushed gingersnap crumbs
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

For the filling:

• 3 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
• 10 egg yolks plus 3 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 3 pieces of crystallized ginger, minced
• 1 teaspoon mace
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 pounds cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

For the crust:

• Generously butter your 12-inch springform pan.
• In a food processor, blend the ginger snaps until finely ground.
• Add the butter and confectioner's sugar and blend.
• Press the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan, tamping it down well and chill it for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F
• Bake the crust for 10 minutes.
• Let cool.

For the filling:

• Increase the oven temperature to 475°F.
• In a bowl combine 2 cups of the sugar with the pumpkin puree.
• Lightly beat 6 of the egg yolks and stir them into the pumpkin puree.
• Add the cinnamon, crystallized ginger, mace and salt and blend.
• In a large bowl cream together the cream cheese and the remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar.
• Add the whole eggs and the remaining 4 egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Beat in the heavy cream, cornstarch, lemon extract and vanilla.
• Fold in the pumpkin mixture and blend until smooth.
• Pour the filling into the springform pan.
• Bake in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes.
• Reduce the heat to 250°F.
• Bake for 1 1/2 hours more (the center will be slightly soft).
• Transfer to a rack and let cool for 1 hour.
• Chill, lightly covered for at least 3 hours.

About this recipe: I would say this recipe took longer to put together than most things I've attempted lately. It was nice to get into the baking zone and work on something a bit challenging and also get the feel for working in my larger kitchen. I'm having a little difficulty adjusting to so much space and I feel like my efficiency has dropped due to mistakenly going for things in their "old" spot and then having to go and get it from its "new" spot. But I won't be discouraged and nor should you.

I've never eaten a ginger snap in my life so I tried one of these dry cookies before I sent its brothers to their finely ground death in the belly of my food processor. It's mildly sweet, buttery and spicy, like pumpkin spices I would say, with a peppery finish. I didn't hate it so I decided to go ahead and use them for the crust. If that doesn't sound appealing to you or you can't find them, you can substitute the more classic graham crackers.

I put the crumbs in a medium bowl and mixed in the confectioners sugar and used a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter that was so soft it was partly melted. I think you could just melt the butter and use a fork to incorporate everything. I used a spoon to press the moistened crumbs firmly into the bottom of a 6-inch spring form pan and 2 small 3-inch ones. I tossed then in the freezer for faster chilling.

I turned my attention to the filling, which I halved, by the way, even though I made the entire amount of crust. There was more than enough filling for a 6-inch pan. If you have an 8-inch pan and half the recipe you'll be golden.

I mixed the pumpkin puree with the egg yolks and spices with a wooden spoon. I used my mixer to cream the cream cheese and sugar letting it beat until it was light and fluffy. I added the eggs one at a time and then the remaining egg yolks followed by the cream, cornstarch, lemon extract, and vanilla. I folded the pumpkin mixture in 3 batches and stirred until it was a smooth, light orange color.

I filled the 6 inch pan generously and the smaller ones to nearly the top as well. I baked the larger one at the higher temperature for the full 10 minutes and put the smaller ones in after five minutes had elapsed. After turning the temperature down, the small ones came out after only 25 minutes and the larger one came out maybe 10 or 15 minutes later.

They are still cooling and then need to be chilled so I won't be tasting this tonight. But, the workmates can look forward to something a little different from the Baking Fool tomorrow. I'll also take a photo of a slice for this entry.

The result: the cheesecakes were all a tad underdone with the centers being more liquid than solid. So, don't follow my example and take them out too soon. I should have cooked the larger cake at least another 25 minutes. I was mislead to believe they were done by the crust that forms on the top during the first 10 minutes in the really hot oven. I also did press the top in the center and it felt done, but I was wrong. In sprite of this, the cheesecake tasted really yummy. You notice the tartness and flavor of the lemon first followed by the more mellow pumpkin flavor and lastly by the spices. I would have liked a slightly more pumpkin flavor and recommend adding perhaps another 1/2 to 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree if you want that too. Also, using freshly grated lemon rind instead of the lemon extract would mellow out the intensity of the lemon, but I'm not going to say do this for sure because it does add a nice tangyness that you might loose if you use rind. Perhaps a compromise would be best with a 1/2 teaspoon extract with 1 teaspoon of rind. The gingersnap crust was quite good and complimented the pumpkin flavor nicely. I had at least one person comment on it saying that they really liked it better than a graham cracker crust.

Overall, I'd have to say that making this cheese cake was only an advanced-beginner effort. If you're careful to avoid the pitfall of not cooking it long enough, you will have a great tasting cheesecake that will surely be enjoyed by everyone who doesn't hate pumpkin or cheesecake.

On a side note, bringing my new oven up to 475°F for the fast cook part of the recipe took no time at all. I'm not sure my old oven would have made it up that high and I'm certain it would have taken at least 30 minutes for it to get there if it managed to in the first place. So hooray for my new oven!