Toffee Pumpkin Cheesecake and Halloween

toffee pumpkin cheesecake

This past weekend Harper, my mom, and her friend Jenni and I took a trip to Houston. Mom and Jenni visited the Houston Quilt Show and pretty much shopped till they dropped!

While Mom and Jenni had a fun girls quilting trip, Harper and I decided to hang out with my Aunt Jolene and her daughter Robin, and Robin’s girls Sarah and Madeline. Even though we were in Houston for just one full day, we had a blast and ate LOTS OF FOOD!

A lot of the recipes on this blog are actually from Aunt Jolene. She is one of the best cooks, if not THE BEST cook I know. In addition to looking forward to catching up with Jolene, I look forward to the homemade food she has prepared. This trip we had:

Breakfast: Cream of wheat, chili cheese egg casserole, bacon, toast, and fruit
Lunch: Tuna salad sandwich, chips, fruit, and Guess Again Cookies (I’ll blog soon! They have Rice Krispies cereal, coconut and oats in them. Yum!)
Dinner: Chicken spaghetti, salad, french bread, and this toffee-pumpkin cheesecake
Snacks: Sarah’s pumpkin muffins (I’ll blog soon!)

Wednesday night was the Republican debate, Jolene had a neighbor named Jim over to watch the it since his television was broken.

It’s kind of a funny sight, looking back…. all four of us (Jim, Jolene, James – an uncle who was in Houston for work, and I) curled on the couch watching the Republican debate with big slices of cheesecake perched on our laps.

toffee pumpkin cheesecake

The cheesecake was amazing! I thought I would be good and not eat the whole slice, but my stomach trumped my brain and said I should finish it. I regretted that afterwards and had trouble falling asleep I was so stuffed, but it was definitely worth it!!

With cinnamon graham cracker crumbs, toffee bits, canned pumpkin and cream cheese, you can’t go wrong with this decadently delicious fall dessert. Don’t forget to garnish the cheesecake with whipped cream, toffee bits, and caramel topping for “icing on the cake”. It was almost too good to eat. ALMOST…. 🙂

The Houston trip was short-lived and we were back in Dallas by Friday evening and ready to trick-or-treat and watch A&M football that next day.

Halloween was a treat as the Aggies pulled out a win against the South Carolina Gamecocks, and Harper went trick-or-treating for the first time.

She was a bumble bee! Buzzzzzzzz!!!!!!

bumble bee Halloween costume — Where’s the candy?

At one year old, Harper is fearless. Not once did she cry, get scared or fuss. I actually nearly jumped out of my skin when we knocked on a neighbor’s house that had motion-sensored scary music and a fake black snake. Harper – nothing phased her!

She had a blast looking at all the other kids in their costumes, and enjoyed knocking on doors and picking out candy. When given the option of which candy she wanted, Harper choose a Reese’s Pieces and a Kit-Kat. I think she liked the bright redish/orange colors from the wrappers.

Even though we all love M&Ms, Snickers, and Hershey’s, why does the packaging have to be dark brown? Such an ugly color, and if you are trying to appeal to a one-year-old, they have their sights on the brightly packaged candies. FYI – to all the candy makers. 🙂

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. Enjoy!

Toffee Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cook time: 2 hours 45 mins

Total time: 2 hours 45 mins

Serves: 16

Ingredients

2 cups cinnamon graham cracker crumbs (32 squares)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5 eggs, divided
8 oz. bag toffee baking bits, divided
15 oz. can pumpkin
3/4 cup whipping cream
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
8 oz. container frozen whipped topping, thawed
caramel topping, heated

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Combine crumbs and butter in a small bowl. Press mixture in the bottom of a greased 9″ springform pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs. Stir in 1 cup toffee bits. Spread over crust.
Combine pumpkin, whipping cream, 2/3 cup sugar, cinnamon, salt and remaining 3 eggs in a large bowl until blended. Slowly and carefully spoon over cheesecake layer.
Bake 2 hours, or until edge of cheesecake is set at least 2 inches from edge of pan but center still jiggles slightly when moved. Turn off oven; open oven door at least 4 inches. Leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes. Run spatula around edge of pan; remove side of pan.
Dollop servings with whipped topping. Drizzle with caramel topping; garnish with remaining toffee bits.

Cherry Cheesecake Pie

Here’s an extremely easy and extremely tasty pie that you must try! I discovered the recipe at The Southern Lady Cooks last week on National Pie Day and couldn’t resist trying it. With just six ingredients, it doesn’t take a gourmet chef to create this eye-appealing dessert.

My husband was out of town last week, and since I had no one to cook for, I invited his parents over dinner. My mother-in-law, Paula, is a huge country cook…we are total opposites. 🙂 I don’t know if this is a “country” thing, but when she has people over for dinner, she begins cooking early in the day. That way, when people come over, she can talk & visit and not worry about the food.

When 4:30 pm rolled around, Paula asked where dinner was. For one – she eats early, around 5:00 pm, and two – she was shocked that I had not even started cooking yet…that would have stressed her out.

Growing up, my mom would always start dinner around 5:15 to 5:30 or so. We would be sitting down to dinner at 6:20 – 6:30…it was like clock work. Therefore, I was not at all stressed to be preparing an entire meal in under one hour.

The dinner for my in-laws turned out great! They cleaned their plates: the quick chicken parmesan, garlic bread, side salad, and 2 slices of cherry cheesecake pie disappeared before our very eyes!

As far as taste goes, the cherry cheesecake pie is outstanding! The filling is light and rich at the same time. The graham cracker crust is a perfect complement to the sweet creamy filling and juicy cherries. This pie actually reminds me of one of my favorite summertime desserts – Limeade Pie. The ingredients are nearly identical, sans the cream cheese and limeade concentrate, and the recipe is just as easy.

Enjoy!

Beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Slowly add sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and vanilla.

Pour into graham cracker crust and chill for at least 3 hours.

Once filling is set, top with cherry pie filling and serve.

Cherry Cheesecake Pie
Ingredients
1 graham cracker pie crust (or make your own)
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
1/3 cup lemon juice (I takes about 4 fresh lemons)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling

Directions
1. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Slowly add condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla, beating until smooth.
2. Pour into crust.
3. Chill at least 3 hours or until firm and then top with cherry pie filling.

Yield: 1 pie, 8 servings
Recipe from: The Southern Lady Cooks

This recipe is featured in The Kurtz Corner: Tuesday Tutorials Link Party {No. 23}

Mamie Eisenhower’s Cheesecake with a Chocolate Crust

Mamie Eisenhower published a lot of recipes during Ike’s presidency, including Million-Dollar Fudge, her best seller, and this cheesecake recipe.

At first I wasn’t sure if I like this cheesecake since it was so different from the ones I normally make. The filling was slightly tangy and refreshingly cool from the lemon juice, which was quite different from the rich and creamy taste I’m used to in my all-time favorite Oreo Cheesecake that my mom makes. Despite it’s uniqueness, I was extremely impressed! The cheesecake was lush, velvety, moist and smooth and the thick layer of chocolate cookie crumb crust was a perfect complement to the tangy lemon flavored filling.

Mamie’s cheesecake was outstanding, and I strongly recommend making this dessert, which comes from Bill Yosses and Melissa Clark’s cookbook called “The Perfect Finish: Special Desserts for Every Occasion.” Enjoy!!

Mamie Eisenhower’s Cheesecake with a Chocolate Crust
Ingredients
1 package (9 oz.) Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer cookies
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 packages full-fat cream cheese (16 oz.) at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream (8.5 oz.)
Freshly grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Directions
For the Crust:
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 275 degrees. In a bowl of a food processor, pulse the cookies to fine crumbs (you should have about 1 1/2 cups).
2. Add the melted butter, and pulse to combine. Grease the bottom and sides of a 10-inch (we used 9-inch) springform pan with butter and sprinkle the cookie crumbs inside. Shake the cake pan to distribute them evenly on the bottom, then use a fork to press them down evenly. Bake for 10 minutes.

For the Cheesecake:
1. Raise the oven temperature to 300 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until completely smooth, about 15 minutes. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle with a spatula. Beat in the eggs one at a time until completely incorporated, scraping down the bowl and paddle before adding each egg.
2. Add the sour cream, lemon zest, and lemon juice and continue to beat until the mixture is uniformly smooth. Pour the batter over the cookie crumb crust and place on the center rack.
3. Bake until the cake is just set, yet still wobbly in the center and will move slightly, in one piece, when the pan is gently shaken, about 60 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool, then refrigerate until completely chilled before serving, about 2 hours.
5. To serve, run a thin knife or offset spatula around the sides of the pan, then release the sides, letting the cake remain on the pan’s base. To slice the cake neatly, use a thin-bladed knife, and wipe it with a damp cloth in between cuts.

Makes 1 (10-inch) cake to serve 8 to 10