This week starts season premier week, so I thought, season premier? Hmmm, that gives me an idea! Let’s start out the fall season right with one of the best veggies of the season. Pumpkin! Is that actually a fruit or vegetable? Anyway, I thought I would have one week of pumpkin recipes. I thought, why don’t I start it out with a bang? A guilt free Pumpkin Cheesecake! Sounds good, right? Remember with a little modification, you can still have the foods you love, you just have to change up the ingredients a little.
So as soon as I came home from work, I whipped up the cheesecake. It only took about 20 minutes, nice! It takes 60 minutes to bake, so I figured I better get my Jackie workout in, since I know before bed I’ll have to have a piece of cheesecake. It takes 4 hours to cool. That’s the worse! I may dig in sooler if I can and I did after 2.5 hours after cooling. Any way with my 30 minute workout, I burned 303 calories, nice! I needed that since I slacked all week. I wasn’t feeling great after I donated blood, but I’m back and I am hungry!!!!
Here is the crust ready to be baked on 350 for 10 minutes. It may need a pinch more butter or applesauce, it seems a little crumbly.
Here is the first layer of pumpkin cheesecake. Just spread over crust once the crust is cooled from the over.
This is the 1 cup you reserved. You use that to make a swirl topping. Just add a few tablespoons at a time and then swirl with a knife.
Bake for 60 minutes, and it’s done, I may have cooked it a pinch to long, check it at 50 minutes to see if the cake is settles.
After about 1.5 hours of cooling I took the spring pan off. I’m hoping that will cool the cake quicker. I really, really want a piece.
Swirly top!! Is it ready yet?
Yum! Need I say more? This was so good! You won’t be disappointed! Trust me on this one!!
Crust
- 1 ½ cups graham crackers, crushed finely (approximately 9-10)
- 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tbsp melted butter
Filling
- 1 8 oz.package of reduced fat cream cheese, softened
- 1 8oz package of fat free cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup raw sugar plus 2 teaspoons
- 2 eggs ( I used Redi Egg Substitute)
- 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (or omit the nutmeg and cinnamon and use pumpkin spice)
- 1 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1 can of 15 oz. pumpkin (do not substitute pumpkin pie filling!)
- 1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together the crushed graham crackers, butter, applesauce, and ground ginger. Press into the bottom, and about 1 inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake crust 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Set aside to cool.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, ½ cup raw sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Mix eggs in one at a time, blending well after each. Set aside 1 cup of the mixture. Blend ¼ cup raw sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, apple cider vinegar and nutmeg into the remaining mixture.
- Spread the pumpkin flavored batter into the crust, and drop the plain batter by spoonfuls onto the top. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.
- Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until filling is set. Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Allow the cake to cool before removing pan rim. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.
