I just recently made this cheesecake on Daytime ... in under 4 minutes!  (In case you missed it, a link to the video will be posted soon!)

Now, that being said,  I don't recommend making this in 4 minutes ... you actually need about 45 minutes to put it all together and another hour to bake it.  But, if you've never made cheesecake before, don't be intimidated.  It's actually quite easy.  The hardest part is not eating all the creamy pumpkin-y batter right out of the bowl!

Chef Jim from the Mount Dora Historic Inn gave me a few extra little tips that gives it a little extra panache.  Follow along and I'll make you the star of your Thanksgiving dinner table.

Here's what you'll need ...

As long as you have the right pan, every thing else is a piece of cake.  Pun intended.  If you've made cheesecake before, skip down a bit. If this is your first time, then let me introduce you to the springform pan.

This nifty little inexpensive  dishware can be found at most large-we-sell-anything-and-everything-superstores.  You might also be able to find it at your local grocer.  "What exactly does it do?" you ask.  Well, it has a nice little hinge on the side that, when opened, releases the sides of the pan allowing you to display your cheesecake as a nice perfect whole cake rather than trying to dig it out with spoon.  (Not that I've ever done that ... ah em.)

Here are the rest of the bits you'll need (full recipe and measurements at the end of the post.)

Some cream cheese, softened to room temperature.  And I do mean room temperature.  If you have a sunny little spot on your counter top, let it sit there awhile and catch some rays while you pull everything else out of your cabinets and refrigerator.  It may take a good hour for it to warm up.

warmed up room temperature cream cheese = easy + creamy cheesecake

cold cream cheese = chunky cheesecake + frustrated baker with sticky bits clogging up their mixer

Catchin my math here?

In addition to cream cheese, you'll need graham cracker crumbs, ginger snaps, butter, eggs, pumpkin pie spices, brown sugar, sour cream, a pinch of salt, and some BOURBON.  (You have to say that last ingredient with your best Southern accent, as if you've taken a swig or two) BOOOOOURBON.

*In my best fake Southern accent*

"Did I say BOURBON?  Why, yes, yes I did say Bourbon.  Pass me some whisk-eh!"

Cooking is always fun in my kitchen.  And while I may laugh and play with my fake Southern accent (as if you could hear me?) I do have a confession.  I don't drink whiskey.  I'm a wine girl.  So walking out of the liquor store with a brown paper bag wrapped around this teeny bottle had me blushing in the same way I did when I was 13 years old and running to the cash register hoping no one saw me buy my first box of "monthly supplies."  Girls, you understand.  Guys, you'll never know, so don't ask.

So, yes, I was blushing and looking over my shoulder to see if any of my small town neighbors would catch me buying whiskey before noon and start spreading rumors that I'd become a "drinkah."

But inviting Jack Daniels into my home for some Thanksgiving baking was the BEST decision I've made this week.  Just WAIT until you taste it.

Now that my confession is over with ... onto the good stuff!  Let's start with the crust, shall we?

For cheesecake, it's really easy.  Just 3 simple ingredients.  Graham cracker crumbs, pinch of brown sugar, and some butter.  Chef Jim suggested a little bonus ingredient. Ginger Snaps.  You can crumble up handful of these spicy cookies in your little food processor.

If you don't have a food processor, you can throw 5 or 6 cookies into a large zip lock bag and crush them with a wooden spoon to make some crumbs.

Now, I have to warn you, if you decide to go this route I will suggest you put the whiskey away.  Unless you want your family to find you in your kitchen with a bottle of bourbon smacking cookies with a spoon.

Just sayin.

Mix them all together ...

Thenn press the crumb mixture firmly into the bottom of the springform pan and up to the sides.  Pop it into the oven at 350 for 10 minutes and then let it cool on a wire rack while you mix the filling.

Step 1 is done.  See, wasn't that easy?

Now on to the fall ingredient that makes this cheesecake extra special ... pumpkin.

Pumkin actually holds A LOT of water.  So, if you want to keep your cheesecake firm, you'll need to soak up some of that water.  Chef Jim gave me a little tip for how to do that ... spreading it out on paper towels.  Simple white un-printed plain ole paper towels.  Fancy, huh?

Spread the pumpkin out onto a layer of 6 to 8 paper towels using a spatula.

When you've got it spread over the paper towel like icing, add another couple of layers of paper towels and press softly to absorb more of the moisture.

Next you want to mix or "cream" together the cream cheese and brown sugar.  Then add the pumpkin and mix some more.

Add your eggs, vanilla and spices and you've got your filling!

When it's all mixed together, scrape the edge of the bowl with a spatula ...

don't lick it ...

not yet anyway... and blend some more until it's nice and creamy.

Then, spread it out onto your baked graham and ginger crust.

Then bake at 350  for 45 minutes to an hour.

TIP! In other cheesecake recipes I've done, it usually calls for a "water bath" in which you wrap the bottom of the springform pan with tinfoil and place the cheesecake in a pan half filled with water while baking.  This is a little precarious because it's heavy ... and it's extremely hot water.

The purpose of the water bath is to keep the cheesecake moist and prevent it from getting dried out around the edges.

Well Jim said I could just stick a pan or bowl in separately and have the same effect.  He does this with his cheesecake as well as his souffles.  Well hallelluah!  I (we) don't have to fret over pulling a gigantic heavy hot "water bath" out of the oven.  Just let the pan/bowl full of water cool before removing.  Brilliant!  Wish I would have known this little short cut last time I made cheesecake.

Step 2 is done.  See ... easy!

Now the final step.

BOOOOURBON.

After the cheesecake is done baking, you'll need to let it cool for an hour and then place it in the refrigerator to chill (overnight or for a couple of hours)

These 3 ingredients will be your topping. A container of sour cream. (Why did I go "lite" on the sour cream, I don't know. Nothing else about his recipe is "lite" and the 20 calories I saved in using this one didn't make a lick of difference I'm sure. Thanksgiving is not for diets, after all. That's what New Years Resolutions are for.)

Add to the sour cream about 2 to 3 cap fulls of Bourbon and a whole lot of shug-ah.

Mix.

Taste.

Mmm.

What is this travesty!?! I have NO FINAL PICTURE of the cheesecake. We sliced it up and gave it to the crew of Daytime. Guess I'll just have to link to the video here soon so you can see it live and in color. Or just make another cheesecake and not devour it before taking photographic evidence.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Cream

(from the Mount Dora Historic Inn)

CRUST

Mix together the following ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cups finely ground ginger snaps

1 tablespoon brown sugar

4 - 5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

PREHEAT oven to 350°F.

Press crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.  Bake for 6 to 8 minutes (do not allow to brown). Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

CHEESECAKE FILLING

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened and at room temperature

3 large eggs

1 can pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

Note for Pumpkin:  Pumpkin holds a lot of water, so in order to make the cheesecake more firm you need to drain some of that water. One quick and easy way to do this is to layer 6 or 7 plain white paper towels and spread the pumpkin over the paper towels.  Next, layer 6 to 7 towels on  top of that and press firmly.  Once the paper towels are soaked through, remove top layer of towels and scrape pumpkin off the bottom layer with a spatula.

Filling: After draining the pumpkin, beat together cream cheese and sugar in large mixer bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs and pumpkin then add spices, salt and vanilla.

P our your filling on top of crust.  In order to keep the oven "moist" fill a separate cake pan or bowl half way with water and place on the bottom rack of your oven.  BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until edge is set.  Let cool for 1 hour, then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

BOURBON CREAM TOPPING

1 container (16 oz.) sour cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon bourbon (can also use vanilla in place of bourbon)

Beat together sour cream and sugar.  Then add teaspoon of bourbon.  Spread over top of cheesecake or serve on the side.

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Here's another great pumpkin recipe for the fall coming to us from the B Street House Bed & Breakfast in Virginia City, NV.   There are two things in this recipe that make your taste buds leap off the charts ... it's spicy like gingerbread ... and it has a gooey cream cheese surprise in the middle.

There was one particular spice that I didn't have in my pantry, and while I was shopping for ingredients my jaw it the floor at the price ...  Cardamom.  There was only one brand in our local grocer that carried it and the sucker was 12 bucks.  Sheesh.  Well, if it's expensive, it must be good, right?  This inspired me to do some research.  What's the story behind this pricey spice?  I googled it and found that my $12 bottle was a bargain.  Some spice shops online were charging upwards of $67.  I've just renamed this recipe Fall Harvest Food of the Gods.

Wikipedia says ... "Green cardamom in South Asia is broadly used to treat infections in teeth and gums, to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs and pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of eyelids and also digestive disorders. It also is used to break up kidney stones and gall stones, and was reportedly used as an antidote for both snake and scorpion venom." The spice includes volatile oils such as camphor, eucalyptol, and limonene.  Some sites reported it to be used in Ayurvedic medicine and also an effective aphrodisiac.

Well no wonder it's so dang expensive!  It's a absolute cure-all.  Next time I get sick I'm baking some of these babies instead of taking NyQuil.

On with the recipe ...

Hmm.  After taking a glance at this photo,  it looks like I went overboard with the cinnamon again.  Good thing it wasn't with the cardomom!  No ... wait ... it's the pumpkin pie spice that's the big mound in the middle.  They call it "spicy" pumpkin muffins for a reason!  There is almost as much spice as there is flour.  I have a full list of ingredients with the recipe at the bottom of the post.

The stars of this show ...

Cream Cheese.  Take an 8 ounce block and cut it into 12 little cubes.

And of course, the spices.  They even smiled for the occasion.

Add your dry ingredients to one bowl.  Starting with flour ...

The menagerie of spices ...

A whoosh of dark brown sugar ...

And then add your "wet" ingredients to a second bowl.

Starting with canned pumpkin (plain, not the pie filling)

A little oil.  I had to hold this with two hands as I was starting to get messy and lost my "no slip" grip in my fingertips.

Molasses.  I have a funny confession about molasses.  During my go-green-all-natural-hippy phase (I'm still eco-friendly, but lite) I decided I was going to try molasses instead of syrup on my pancakes.  I had been using maple, which is natural but high calorie.  I thought this would make a low-cal natural alternative.  Buwhahahaahahahahah!

It was my first time trying the tar-like sap.  Took me a year to try it again.  But only in it's proper use as a "blended" ingredient.

Buwwwahhhahahahah!

I'm laughing so hard I'm crying.  Enough with the self-deprecating confession.  Needless to say I didn't lick this bowl.

Add two eggs, a cap full of vanilla and whip together.

Then add to your BIG bowl of dry ingredients and whip together some more.

Spoon into muffin cups.  If you know a non-messy trick to doing this, please let me know!

I usually just wipe down the pan with a wet paper towel to erase the splatter.  I know on TV and in cookbooks it always looks so neat and tidy ... but I bet the reality is there is someone just behind the camera wiping down the messy spoon drippings too.

Press the cream cheese cubes into the center of each muffin cup.  Resist the temptation to pop them in your mouth.  Resist!

Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and pop em in the oven at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Voila!  Spicy Pumpkin Muffins. Fall Harvest Food of the Gods.

B Street House Bed & Breakfast

Spicy Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese

1 1/2 Cups flour

1 Cup dark brown sugar

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Cup cooked or canned pumpkin (not pie filling)

2/3 Cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp molasses

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 Cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease or spray with butter-flavored oil spray 12 muffin tins or line with paper baking cups.

2) Stir together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix together the pumpkin and wet ingredients.  Stir into dry ingredients until blended.  Fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full.

3) Divide cream cheese into 12 equal portions.  Put one portion in each muffin in the middle of the muffin batter, pressing down.  Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

4) Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the muffin part.  Let cool for a bit then serve!

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The thing I love most about Fall ... well, besides the cooler weather, holidays, festivals, and everything decorated in my favorite color (orange) ... is the spices.

Clove. Cinnamon.  Nutmeg.  Allspice. Ginger.

They all seem to bring with them a feeling of comfort and warmth.  For the next three months I'll be baking up a storm using every combination of these delightful spices.

As much as I like to hover over my hot cup of coffee and savor the morning, some days are a little more rushed than others.  This recipe is perfect for one of those days where you crave the soothing feeling of being wrapped up in a warm blanket lingering over a hot beverage ... but in reality you have to get out the door quick.  Take a couple of these wholesome treats with you for a boost of energy you'll need to face the day.

This recipe for Sweet Potato Muffins was sent to me from  Mitch at the Beaufort Inn in South Carolina.  He's had a lot of practice making breakfast over the years, even before life as an Innkeeper.  Sundays used to be his only day off and he would make something delicious in the morning for his daughter and a houseful of her friends.  Lucky girls!

Here's what you'll need ...

Here's what you'll need ... 2 cups white flour, 1/2 cup freshly ground flax seed, 1/2 cup honey, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 tablespoon ground cloves, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 cup oil, 2 cups baked/peeled/cubed sweet potato, 2 eggs, 1 cup chopped walnuts, 1 cup dried cranberries.

Mix your dry ingredients together into a large bowl.

These are the little boogers you have to watch out for.  Flax seeds.  They're what makes these little muffins wholesome, hearty, filling and delish ... but don't over indulge our you'll experience what I call a flax-itive.

I grind mine in a coffee grinder.  It does the trick pretty good.

After grinding the flax seed, add them to your flour and spice mixture and mix well.

Next, beat the eggs in a separate bowl.

Add your eggs, oil, and honey to the flour/flax/spice bowl.

This is going to get real thick, real fast.  I don't recommend using a mixer or beater.

Instead just a fork will do and fold the batter together.

The honey combined with the flax seed makes this a thick and hearty stick-to-your-gut kind of muffin.  No fluffy pastry here.  This is a get outside and go hiking-climbing-fall-leaf-collecting-pumpkin-picking kind of breakfast.  Eat your heart out Kashi.

I had to resist the temptation to puree the sweet potato.  Add them cubed, not mashed.  They melt down a little and give it a moist texture.

Fold in the nuts, cranberries and sweet potatoes.  Do you feel like you're making your own super food bar yet?  The recipes I post are usually not the healthy kind.  Bookmark this one for when you get into the thick of the holidays full of butter and sugar and crave a less guilt-ridden snack.  Just remember ... don't over indulge.

Scoop the gooey wholesome goodness into greased muffin pans.  I like to add a little flour too.

I makes em pop out really easy and creates a little crust on the edge.

This batch of batter almost made 2 dozen small muffins.  You could also make 12 really gigantic ones ... just add a little more time to your baking.

Let cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

Sweet Potato Muffins

Ingredients

2 Cups white flour

1/2 Cup freshly ground flax seed

1/2 Cup honey

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tbsp ground cloves

1/2 cup oil

2 cups baked, peeled, cubed sweet potatoes

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup walnuts

1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2) Using a wire whisk, mix dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, flax seeed and spices) in large bowl.

3) Blend in beaten eggs and honey and mix well.

4) With a spoon mix in sweet potato cubes, walnuts and cranberries.

5) Separate into greased muffin pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

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I can't think of a better way to kick off the Fall season than with a glass of spice infused Autumn Sangria.  My good friend, Maranda, gave me this recipe years ago and I always make a batch around Labor Day to celebrate the coming of Fall. 

First I'm gonna show you how to make it.  Then we're gonna clink glasses and have a little toast.  Okay ... maybe just clink your glass to your computer monitor ... just be sure to not spill any on the keyboard.

First, grab yourself two really cheap bottles of Merlot.  If you're a fan of the movie Sideways ... and you don't like Merlot ... tough.  You need a strong red wine to keep the flavor after we manipulate it with some sugar and spice.  And you need it to be cheap wine so that you don't cry when we pour all the ingredients in.  Since you can't really find a rich earthy Barolo that's cheap, trust me with the Merlot.

Next, you'll need a little sugar and spice to make everything nyahiiice.  A big pinch of cinnamon and a little pinch of clove and nutmeg.   Some apples and cinnamon sticks for flavor AND decoration.  And a whole boatload of sugar.  One cup, to be exact.  And a bottle of ginger ale.

Pour the two bottles of wine into a deep sauce pan on medium heat.

This is the look I give my friends when they question whether or not the "full" two bottles of wine are going into the recipe ... or if one is for the cook.

Now this is why I'm telling you to use the cheap stuff.  Pour in the cup of sugar and spices.  Even though you're using a cheap Merlot, believe me when I say it's gonna taste goooooood.

Stir the wine as the spices and sugar melt and blend in.  This whole process takes about 8 to 10 minutes.  Be sure to not "boil" the wine.  You just want it to get a little warm simmer.  Boiling would burn off the alcohol ... and then defeat the whole purpose of making sangria!

While the wine is simmering, this gives you time to chop up some apples.  Cut the slices fairly thin and mix in a few varieties to add some color and make it fancy schmancy looking.  Also add about two handfuls of cinnamon sticks.  I almost spelled sin-a-men sticks.  Freudian slip?

 After the wine has simmered for about 10 minutes, pour into a pitcher or punch bowl, add the ginger ale and a cup of ice and refrigerate for 24 hours.  This allows all the spices to marinate and blend.

If you are going to serve immediately (within 24 to 48 hours) then the apples and cinnamon will really spice it up and also give it a festive look.  After 48 hours, strain the big bits out so that all you have left is the liquid. 

Raise your glass ... a toast to Fall ...

" Frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life."

 --Taming of the Shrew/Shakespeare

 

Autumn Sangria

Ingredients

2 bottles Merlot

1 bottle ginger ale

1 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground clove

4 to 6 apples

6 to 10 cinnamon sticks

Directions

In a medium pot, combine Merlot, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Let simmer for ten minutes, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved.

Pour immediately into a sealed pitcher or other container. Chop apples and add them along with the cinnamon sticks to the mixture. Add ice and ginger ale. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

For a more carbonated punch or mimosa, add the ginger ale to the wine after it's cooled ... then it will keep the fizz.

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