You Shoudn't Try This Pumpkin Cheesecake!

Yesterday, the Mr. and I went to do our usual town shopping and decided to go out to eat. No big deal, you say, but we don't eat out much and eating Mexican food is a treat for us. When we walked in the restaurant, a stack of newspapers and brochures greets you and my man can not pass up reading material! As we sat down and glanced through the paper full of advertisements and very little content, I noticed a few fall recipes and one for Pumpkin Cheesecake caught my eye.

I didn't give it too much thought, but then when Farmall Man saw the recipe, he said "wow, that sounds goood!" Just so happens our next stop was the grocery store and we made a check list of the items we would need to pick up in order to cook the cheese cake. (And we just thought eating before the grocery store would help us save money!)

This morning I made my very first, from scratch cheese cake. Let me tell you, it is delicious! So with Thanksgiving coming up, I think I just might be making another pumpkin cheesecake with maple pecan glaze.

Here's the recipe, if you really want to try it. (I made a couple changes from the printed recipe in the paper. It called for raisins in the glaze and I didn't like the sound of that. You could add them if you want to) 

Pumpkin Cheese Cake with Maple Nut Glaze

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (Tip - buy the whole crackers and make crumbs yourself and save several dollars and have crackers to eat later. About 12 crackers or one tube makes 1 1/2 cups crumbs. A potatoe masher worked good to make crumbs.)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 melted butter
• 3- 8 oz packages of cream cheese
• 1- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1- 16 oz can pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg (I thought I had nutmeg at home, but didn't so I substituted pumpkin pie spice - it has nutmeg in it after all.)

Heat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press firmly in springform pan.

With mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy; gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add remaining ingredients, mixing well.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes (or until edges springs back when lightly  touched, (center will be slightly soft.)

Cool and chill.

Maple Nut Glaze

• 2 Tablespoons water
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 chopped nuts (I used almost a cup of pecans)

Combine water and cornstarch. In small saucepan, melt butter. Add syrup and cornstarch mixture. Cool and stir until slightly thickened. Add nuts. Spoon over chilled cheesecake.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you try it. I would love to hear what you think about this cheesecake!