This recipe is inspired by one I found on Taste of Home years ago and have pretty much made it every year since! I decided to clean it up a little bit this year so that it’s free of refined sugars, and it turned out great! I also tried a grain free crust with it and that turned out…..not so great. So, grain free crust T.B.D. There’s plenty of crust recipes out there for you guys to google and when I find or create a good grain free one, I will post it here! When I used to eat gluten, I would always use Nilla Wafers and butter to make the crust. My next project is to attempt a crustless cheesecake and how easy would that be? Anyway, buy a crust, make a crust, or go crustless and use this delicious filling! It’s sure to be a hit!
P.S. You always want to make cheesecakes the night before they will be served.
Pumpkin Walnut Cheesecake (filling)
Ingredients
Filling:
3-8 oz packages of organic cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups coconut sugar
15 oz pumpkin puree, aka solid-packed pumpkin
1/4 cup organic heavy cream
1 ts ground cinnamon
1 ts ground cloves
1 ts ground ginger
5 eggs, lightly beaten
Topping:
6 T grass fed or organic butter, softened
1 cup coconut sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
Optional step: Since you will be covering the top with a topping and won’t see it anyway, this step isn’t totally necessary. Wrap bottom and sides of 10″ greased springform pan securely with heavy duty foil and place it in a large baking or roasting pan with 1 inch of hot water.
Make whatever crust you are using, if using. Press it on to bottom of greased 10″ springform pan and a little up the sides.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat cream cheese and coconut sugar until smooth. Beat in pumpkin, cream, and spices just until blended. You don’t want to over-mix cheesecake batter.
Add eggs on low speed until just combined. Pour over crust. Place pan in water bath if doing.
Bake at 325º for 1 hour. Make topping by combining butter and sugar and add in the walnuts. Carefully sprinkle over hot cheesecake. I recommend starting on the outside edges so your cheesecake doesn’t cave in.
Bake another 20-30 minutes longer until center is just set. Remove springform from water bath if used and let cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Once cooled, run knife around edge of pan to loosen cake and let cool another hour. Refrigerate overnight preferably and remove sides of pan before serving.
Eat Pretty Food 