Passport & Plate - Relative-approval-winning pumpkin cheesecake
USA | Wednesday, February 25, 2015 | 1 photos
Ingredients
16 ounces cream cheese, softened (just don’t read the calorie count)
The last few drops of vanilla extract (hopefully it’s half a teaspoon, you think)
2 eggs
½ a cup of white sugar
½ a cup of pumpkin puree (this feels like cheating because you didn’t personally puree the pumpkin)
Pre-prepared graham cracker crust (this is definitely cheating).
1 pinch ground cloves (wait...is this pinch too big?)
½ a teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground nutmeg (thanks for the spice rack when I went to college, Mom. Sorry I rolled my eyes at it.)
How to prepare this recipeStep 1) Offer to bring a pumpkin cheesecake to your boyfriend’s family Thanksgiving.
Step 2) Remember that your sister was the one who knows how to make it. Assure yourself it can’t be that hard.
Step 3) Realize you don’t have any of the ingredients or a springform pan. Obtain these items.
Step 4) Promptly break the 8-inch springform pan...use the 9-inch and hope it works okay.
Step 5) Attempt to combine the cream cheese, eggs, vanilla and sugar by hand.
Step 6) Realize this is almost impossible. Try to use mixer instead.
Step 7) Break mixer. Use your roommate’s Ninja blender instead and hope she doesn’t mind.
Step 8) IT WORKED!
Step 9) Pat yourself on the back, then add the pumpkin, and all the spices.
Step 10) Pour the batter into the crust. Realize there’s some stuck at the bottom that your spatula can’t reach. It’s okay, you think, I’ll just reach under the blade and scrape it out-
Step 11) OW OW MY FINGER IS BLEEDING THIS IS NOT GOOD
Step 12) Run to sink and avoid getting blood in cheesecake
Step 13) Find first aid kit, bandage finger (thanks again, Mom).
Step 14) Text your best friend “My blood, sweat and tears have gone into this cheesecake.
Step 15) Did you heat the oven? …...No. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Step 16) Put cheesecake in oven for 35 minutes.
Step 17) Take it out. Is it supposed to be cracked like that?
Step 18) Whatever.
Step 19) Take cheesecake to Thanksgiving, smile modestly and so “Oh, it was nothing,” when various relatives compliment you on the cheesecake. Quietly wonder how much wine they’ve had.
Step 20) Be impressed with yourself when the cheesecake gets political arguments to take a temporary backseat for about 90 seconds.
Step 21) Eat cheesecake. Be happy.
The story behind this recipeMy 9-years-older sister used to make this cheesecake, and sometimes she let me lick the spatula. In my mind, that meant I was helping her, so at the age of 19, under a spell of infatuation, I thought I could make it for my boyfriend and his family. It’s his favorite dessert, so like any rom-com heroine, I set out to impress him with my culinary wizardry and fell into a set of mishaps along the way.
Despite said mishaps, it actually came out pretty good, probably because it’s hard to ruin something that is basically sugar and cheese. Several of his relatives complimented me on it, and one cousin even declared it “the best cheesecake ever.” And my boyfriend proposed to me on the spot! (Just kidding. He does want cheesecake for his birthday, though. Luckily, it’s not until May, so I have time to mentally prepare.)
