Thanksgiving Festivities (aka Copycat Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake)

This year's Thanksgiving break symbolized freedom to me: four days that I refused to think about labwork (to the best of my ability) while I enjoyed the company of friends, family, cats, and leisure reading.

A high school classmate of both Michael and myself came to visit us this Thanksgiving. We had a grand ol' time around the 'Burgh as well as venturing out to Cleveland for an inaugural visit.

But before the three of us headed out, we spent Thanksgiving Day cooking while the Macy's Day parade blared in the background.

First up, Michael prepared two roasting hens for our main course. We've come to prefer non-turkey options as neither of us particularly enjoys turkey, and I am not a lover of white meat in general, so a more reasonable option for small groups such as a turkey breast was not appealing.


He used this recipe from Allrecipes.com and roasted our hens until an internal temperature of 180 degrees (about 4-5 hours for our 3 and 1/2 lb hens). Although the cooking time was realllly long, the meat was very tender (yes, even the white meat, although I still think it was a tad bit dry), the skin was flavorful, and overall it was very tasty. Lots of leftovers for my killer chicken fried rice in a few days, of course.


We also couldn't help ourselves and made another batch of the Curried Corn Chowder that must have made its 3rd or 4th appearance in our kitchen in the last couple of months. We made a double recipe, added potatoes, and let it cook down a couple of hours to fully develop the flavors. We also threw in the breast meat of the roasted chicken when it was done.


And lastly, because myself and Tigger (pictured below begging for food) are fiends for roast sweet potatoes, I diced a few up for munching. Large chunks, as you can see below, drizzled with olive oil, salt, white pepper, black pepper, and toss to coat. 425 degree oven for 20 minutes, stir with a spatula, and 2o more minutes before they're slightly toasty, soft, and addictively delicious. And importantly, not sickeningly sweet.



But wait, what about dessert, you say? Well...so we had dessert for breakfast.

This pumpkin cheesecake recipe is our high school friend's specialty, and I originally wanted to watch him make it when he came, except it needs to sit overnight in the fridge before serving, so in order for it to be in time to eat on Thursday, he sent me the recipe and I made it Wednesday night.


When he arrived the next morning, we were hungry, and the cheesecake was ready...so we decided to eat big wedges of it for breakfast while we watched parts of the parade.

One of the best breakfasts I've had in awhile.

You may notice that there's a corner of the cheesecake that has some chocolate chips. I was curious as to how it would taste, as I'd seen the chocolate-pumpkin combo in other contexts (mainly cake). So I dropped some 60% Cacao chips into the batter before baking, but only in a small area in case the combo proved unsatisfactory, we could still enjoy the rest of the cheesecake. The cheesecake proved to be delicious either way. The chocolate chips provide textural and flavor contrast, which can be good for preventing monotony. However, sometimes you just want unadulterated pure pumpkin creaminess, and that's perfectly good too....

This copycat of the Cheesecake Factory's Pumpkin Cheesecake was originally presented in an issue of the Food Network Magazine last year. I haven't had the original version at the Cheesecake Factory, but I think this may be a good alternative to getting the original, for multiple reasons.

One being that you end up with a 10-inch diameter cheesecake for the price of probably 2 slices of cheesecake at the Factory if you add up all your ingredient costs. Not to mention no 1 & 1/2 hour waits, etc.

And of course, it doesn't cost you any extra to have a second slice.


Pumpkin Cheesecake (adapted from Food Network Magazine, Nov/Dec 2008)

Ingredients:

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 & 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
pinch of cinnamon

2 lbs (4 8-oz packages) cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
2 & 1/2 cups sugar
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
6 eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 & 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
good chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and set a rack to the center position.

Prepare a 10-inch diameter springform pan. Lightly grease with some of the melted butter. Combine remaining butter with the graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, pinch of salt and cinnamon. Mix to combine and press into the bottom and up the sides of springform pan as tightly and evenly as possible. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes (make sure you put a pan under the springform pan or else the butter will leak out into your oven) until golden brown.

Let crust cool, then wrap with the widest foil you own. Multiple layers help minimize the amount of water that seeps into the pan, but if you can get Costco-sized foil rolls, a large square should be able to cover the bottom and somewhat up the sides. If not, like me, then pack and fold and tuck the foil as centered and tightly as you can around the pan, use multiple layers, and shift the orientation of each layer so the lowest sides of each layer is covered by the highest sides of the next layer. Place wrapped pan/crust in a large roasting pan. If you do not own a large roasting pan, you can get disposable foil ones from the supermarket, or use the biggest cookie sheet you own that has a decent tall lip.

Boil a pot of water while you make the filling.

Beat the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth. Add the 2 & 1/2 cups sugar and mix until just light and fluffy; scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream, then pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, spices, and salt until just combined. Pour into cooled crust. Sprinkle chocolate chips, if desired, onto surface of batter. Use a spatula to submerge some chips, then sprinkle more on the surface. This way you get chips at different levels of the batter since the batter is thick enough to prevent sinking if you sprinkle the chips on the surface.

Place roasting pan (containing the cheesecake--very heavy, make sure you adequately support the center of the pan if it's a foil pan) into the oven on the center rack. Don't pull out the rack too far or else you're going to have a hard time pushing everything back in without splashing water. Gently pour enough of your just boiled water (use a pitcher to save yourself spillage) to come halfway up the side of the pan, if you have that clearance on the foil and pan. Otherwise pour enough to cover the whole bottom of the pan, and a little up the sides but before it spills into the foil layers or out of the pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour 45 minutes, or until the edges of the cheesecake is set but the center is still jiggly if you perturb the pan. You can check the sides being set by the presence of a matte-looking skin and no indent when you poke the edge with a finger. At this point, turn off the oven, open the oven door and flap it a couple of times to dissipate some of the hot air, close the door again, and let cheesecake cool for 1 hour in warm oven.

Take cheesecake out, remove it from the roasting pan and foil layers, blot everything dry, let it cool to room temperature. Then run a plastic knife around the edge to loosen the cheesecake, cover with plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge on top of some sort of anti-leakage layer (I used a piece of foil) to catch any drippings. Chill at least 8 hours to overnight.

Garnish with whipped cream and nuts, if desired. Enjoy!