I’m not kidding when I call it life changing.  I wouldn’t joke around about a thing like cheesecake.  If you’re like me, and let’s just go ahead and assume that you are, you love cheesecake but you’d never dare to make one.  I enjoy baking and cooking but the thought of making my very own cheesecake?  Well, that seemed impossible and perhaps a little crazy.  That is until now.

A week or two ago my momma, mamaw and sister came up to Chicago for a visit.  I made a proper Shabbat dinner.  We had brisket (more on that later), turnip greens and potatoes.  That was all fine and good.  Amazing actually.  That meal is probably the most grown up thing I’ve ever done other than pay my car payment on time.  No, the star of the evening was the pumpkin cheesecake.

I have always loved cheesecake.  It’s delicious and comes in just about every flavor that you could dream up.  I went with cheesecake for dessert for a couple different reasons.  Pumpkin cheesecake is amazing, nobody makes cheesecake and I needed a new dessert in my bag of tricks.  I mean when was the last time you had homemade cheesecake?  Mostly?  I figured that if I could pull this off I then could become the cheesecake king of Chicago.  They’re a lot easier to make than I had imagined and I’m not going to lie they’re delicious for breakfast.  Not to mention Thanksgiving is coming up and don’t you want to be the star of the show?  Of course you do.

WHAT?

Crust:

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin

3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

1/4 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

HOW?

I don’t know about you but I just gained 3 pounds from just reading that list.  First preheat your oven to 350.  Then get your crust ingredients together.  In a medium-sized bowl,  combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.  For the filling?  Beat cream cheese until smooth (you really should let it set out and come to room temperature so you can mix it easier). Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.  Then pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place in oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

I know that cheesecake causes all sorts of problems when you have it right after a big meat meal like Thanksgiving, but I’m not really eating meat these days…so it works out perfect.  If you’re looking for a reason to become vegetarian…I just gave it to you.  Pumpkin Cheesecake.  See?  I told you it was life changing.