2021 Tuesday To-Do #40: Pumpkin Cheesecake With Salted Chocolate Caramel Top

How was everyone's Thanksgiving?


You know you've not been in the sewing room enough
when your calendar is a couple weeks behind...oh well.
Due to the holiday, I don't have much quilty stuff to
share for today's Tuesday To-Do Link-Up so after I
talk a little quilting, I'm going to share the recipe for
our Turkey Day Grand Finale.
(If you're not into the chocolate-pumpkin combo hey,
I'm not much either so trust me on this one.  It's nom.)
I might start including a favorite recipe in all of my
TTD posts but we'll just see how that all plays out.

Thankfully, I wrote most of this post ahead of time
so now, after learning my son's truck was stolen, and
I'm finally sitting down to do some editing, I'm grumpy
and not in the mood.  Well, this ain't our first rodeo;
it's not even that son's first rodeo [aka vehicle stolen],
the poor kid.  And I'll leave it at that.  Wait--no I won't.
Do you know how hard it's going to be to replace it
in this current car market?!?
Okay, now I'll leave it at that and then try to focus
on the fact that no one was hurt.
UPDATE!  THEY FOUND IT!


But we have some things to fix.  Ugh.
And we'll be switching back to full-coverage.  Today.
(What a scare!)
And I'm tired of editing and a little emotional so just
lemme know if you see any major typos--LOL.

Back to normal things...
Over the holiday I was busy getting ready, then busy
serving it up and then busy doing a lot of nothing with
my fam.  I finally hit a couple LQS's and now have most of
the fabric needed for my grandson's quilt--no small feat.

A review of my obstacles/complications:
* Needs to match his sister's quilt if at all possible,
or at the very least just not clash with it. 
*I should to be subtracting fabric, not adding!
*My daughter likes modern--I have very little
*It's really hard to find boys' fabric that's not
just flat out silly or overly-cutesy/juvenile.
(I'd prefer he didn't outgrow it in a year!)


Knowing all the above issues, I'm pretty happy with what
I have so far.  There might be some finger-crossing going
on but that usually works out alright for me. 
(ie: stretching that peachy-orange into a manly orange
and drawing out the gray that's barely there.)

I have a couple fabrics in the stash I'll probably add
and I did order up a couple more:  one is a larger print
of the construction vehicles for a border; the other is
another gold--the exact fabric that is in his sister's
quilt so that should help pull things together a bit.


As for his sister's quilt, it still needs the binding.  With my
shoulder screaming at me daily, I kinda keep putting it off.

Next week's to-do's:
1)  Bind and label G's quilt
2) Cut out J's quilt
3) Quilt Hudson Valley Palisades

That's a hefty list considering the million other things I
have going on but I'm still going to attempt it.
 
Now, for that recipe:
I'm a pumpkin purist.  Don't even talk to me about
the can.  It's just not that hard to make the pureé and
the difference is night and day.  Directions are all over
the Internet but I'll sum it up for us quilters:
Cut pumpkin in half and clean out inside, saving seeds
to bake later for warm and healthy quilting snack.

[Or, if you have chickens, they're a natural de-wormer.
The rest of you probably did not want to know that, right?]

Pop halves into the oven face-down on foil-lined pan
at something like 325'.  Set the timer for, I dunno, like
an hour and go sew.  Whenever it gets fairly soft, you're
done--pull it out and go back to sewing while it cools.
Whenever you need a break from sewing, remove peel
with a paring knife and pureé the meat.  Refrigerate or
freeze to have available whenever you want.
(It keeps 5-6 days in the fridge.)
Go sew.
And never use that canned gook again.
Especially with the following recipe:

A note about baking cheesecake:
You know how you always bake it in a water bath?   I'm
here to tell you:  forget wrapping that springform pan in foil.
After having this leak just once--resulting in a very soggy
crust <cringe!!>--I always double-foiled...until one fine
day I stumbled across the idea of using a crockpot liner.
Cue the angelic choirs and sing along:  Hallelujah!
A much, much more trustworthy method!  I haven't
used foil for years--and I make a LOT of cheesecake.
(Just kinda roll the excess of the liner down a little bit so it
doesn't get too close to the oven's upper heating element.)

*I didn't know I was going to post this so
these are the only pics I have

 Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake
(Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Nov '21)

Crust
6 oz chocolate wafer cookies
4 T butter, melted
2 T sugar
Pinch of salt
In a food processor, grind cookies till fine (1 1/2 c).  Add
sugar and salt and pulse a few times to mix in. Add
Add butter and pulse until evenly moistened.  Press evenly
into bottom and about an inch up the sides of pan.
Refrigerate for 10 mins.  Preheat oven to 350'.  Bake till
firm, about 12 mins.  Reduce oven to 325'.

Filling
3 pkgs (8oz ea) cream cheese soft/room temp
1 c sugar
2 T flour
3/4 c fresh pumpkin pureé
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger
2 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
3 large eggs, room temp
Beat cream cheese and sugar on low until smooth,
scraping sides and bottom so no lumps remain.  Add in
flour, beating to combine.  Add pumpkin, spices, vanilla
and salt.  Add in eggs, one at a time, beating to combine
well after each addition (again scraping sides and bottom).
Pour into prepared crust.  Place pan inside a crockpot
liner; then place the liner/pan combo in a larger pan.
Fill larger pan about halfway up with hot water. 

Bake till just a tiny bit wobbly in center, 70-75 mins.
Cool 2 hours.  Place in fridge, uncovered; after 1-2 hours,
cover tightly and chill 8 hours, up to 2 days.

Salted Chocolate Caramel
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c heavy cream
generous pinch kosher salt
3 oz Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips


Run a knife around outside of cake; release sides of
pan and remove from cake.  Cook sugar and 2T water
in a small saucepan over med-high heat, stirring until
sugar has dissolved.  Stop stirring and cook, swirling pan
occasionally, until amber (3-5 mins).  Remove from heat
and whisk in cream and salt (it will bubble).  Return to
heat and whisk to dissolve any hardened particles.  Stir
in chocolate.  Cool 20 minutes, then pour over cake.
Refrigerate till set, at least 30 mins up to overnight.
Garnish with a pinch of flake sea salt in center.

You know what is so great about cheesecake?
I mean besides the obvious.
They are better after chilled a good day or two which
makes them PERFECT time-savers for any formal meal
when you want to focus on other things on the day of!
This is really the main reason I make them all the time!

Happy holiday baking and quilting!

Comments

piecefulwendy said…
Well, yikes about the truck, but I'm so glad no one was injured. Still, though! I think you are tracking well for the quilt and the fabrics - looks great to me! Okay, I'm not a pumpkin fan (but I detest canned pumpkin for sure), but this looks good. I have never wrapped a cheesecake when baking it? Haha!
I'm so sorry to hear about your son's truck - that kind of thing is so frustrating! Your cheesecake sounds yummy. I have just started cooking a real pumpkin for baking anything pumpkin in the last couple years, and it really is so much easier than I expected. It will be fun to see your grandson's quilt - is it the same design as your granddaughter's?
grammajudyb said…
I don’t grow pumpkins. Guess I’ll have to find a Farmers Market or something! I couldn’t have everyone thinking I’m a total failure for using canned purée! Next year I promise! There aren’t pumpkins to be had in Wyoming now! I will definitely try your Salted Chocolate Caramel! I think it would be good on my favorite chocolate cake or brownies recipe!
Glad son’s truck was found! That is such a bummer that this is not the first time!
Anne-Marie said…
Sorry about the truck. Glad it was found. Quilts are looking good.
Vicki in MN said…
I feel for your son and the truck issue, I wonder if parts are hard to come by too. Scary deal, I am so glad no one was hurt. Yummy cheesecake! Hope your shoulder behaves soon.
Linda said…
What a horrible thing to go through with your son's truck and how infuriating. :( I'm glad it was found.
Thank you SO much for the cheesecake recipe. I have copied it to my Recipes file to give it a try. I have used canned pumpkin for.ev.er but I'm trusting you on this one. I have never put flour in my cheesecakes, but again, I'm trusting you! I'll let you know how it turns out, but I have to wait till I lose 5 lbs because I'll gain it back eating this. ;)
Thank you for linking to To Do Tuesday!
collettakay said…
That cheesecake looks delish! My oldest daughter LOVES cheesecake so I might have to give it a try :) Thanks for stopping by!

Colletta
so glad they found your son's truck! needs repair yes but cheaper than replacing it.
I like fresh pumpkin and sometimes use it and other times for convenience use the canned - the cheesecake looks divine
chrisknits said…
Hope things even out for you guys!! Yummy, must consider making that cheesecake!
Home Sewn By Us said…
Hi Cheree! WHAT the heck??? His truck was stolen . . . and then, thankfully, found. How annoying and what a big hassle that is. That looks like a lot of damage to the steering column. It sounds like you had a fabulous couple of days with the family, and that recipe sounds YUMMY. I can honestly say I've never rendered my own pumpkin puree but you sure make it sound easy. Too easy to not just do it! Hmm. I forget what pattern you are using for J's quilt? Is it a Christmas gift where you need to really get focusing on it now? You've got a solid three weeks which is plenty of time for you! {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne
Needled Mom said…
That is such a bummer about the truck, so disappointing. Glad that it was recovered, but still a shame.

Looking forward to seeing what you do come up with for the grandson's quilt.

The pumpkin cheesecake sounds yummy. Homemade puree is definitely unlike the canned.
Sharon - IN said…
Sounds like you have been having a time of it at your house. I'm glad the truck was found, repairs underway. That pumpkin cheese cake looks divine! Nice pull of fabric for you grandson's quilt, and looks like it will coordinate nicely with your granddaughter's. I hope you enjoy the process of completing both!