Name: Pumpkin Cheesecake with Walnuts and Bourbon Caramel Sauce
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups gingersnap cookies; 6 Tbsp melted butter; 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts; 6 Tbsp sugar; 24 oz 3 packages cream cheese; room temperature; 1 3/4 cups brown sugar; 4 eggs; 15 oz pumpkin, fresh or canned; 2 Tbsp. bourbon; 1/4 cup flour; 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice; 1 cup toasted walnut, or pecan pieces; Whipping cream

Plain pumpkin pie not your thing? Try this Pumpkin Cheesecake with Walnuts and Bourbon Caramel Sauce and I promise pumpkin will take on new meaning!

Are you ready for Thanksgiving? NO? Me either. How does it always come down to this hectic frenzy right before holidays when I think I’m a planner? Well, for me, it has not helped one tiny bit that a local web host has decided to go out of business and he hosts several of my web clients. Especially when I had this Pumpkin Cheesecake with Walnuts and Bourbon Caramel Sauce planned!

We have another 7 days before he’s gone and I’ve still got 4 sites to finishing transferring to WordPress, a totally new environment. I would love to drink to drown my sorrows but I think the best I can do right now is indulge in some sweets to deal with the stress. And how prophetic that this months Progressive Eats event is aptly titled ‘Great Holiday Desserts?’

My choice for this sweets extravaganza was to go pumpkin with this Pumpkin Cheesecake with Walnuts and Bourbon Caramel Sauce. Weirdly late huh? Me, of the ‘oh stop with the pumpkin’ attitude is now, finally ready to get onboard. With some REAL pumpkin.

I discovered the most amazing pumpkins last year, a variety called Cinderella and they are a double whammy winner. Gorgeous in appearance but also the best tasting pumpkin I’ve ever had; I think even better than the more renown Sugar Pumpkin.

Have you ever harvested a fresh pumpkin for your fall pumpkin needs? For most of my life I just bought a pumpkin, carved it with my kids and then pitched it. Since our carving pumpkin years are over, I now buy baking pumpkins to sit outside through Halloween and then bring them in and make them into pumpkin puree to freeze for later. In this case, much later…this puree was from last year! Still, it’s so easy and the results are so superior to canned product.

Simply clean your pumpkin of all seeds and strings, rub with some vegetable oil and bake at 350 degrees until you can easily pierce the flesh with a fork. Scrape the pumpkin flesh from the outer shell and puree it using a blender or food processor.

I like to simmer mine for a bit on the stove to cook out some of the water but that can also be done after they’re thawed too. My FoodSaver is my champion once they’re cooked; I put 15 oz into each one; the same as the amount that comes in the cans. So easy and so good; try it!

This was really a pretty easy dessert. I had some gingersnaps in the pantry and pumpkin in the fridge so that combination sort of spoke to me. I put walnuts into the crust as well on on top of the pie; I called it ‘with’ walnuts so thought I had better deliver.

Substitute pecans too if you want but when toasted, walnuts take on such a different taste and I love them more. I also made a bourbon caramel sauce using this recipe for Salted Caramel Sauce. I simply substituted some of the cream with bourbon; to taste. I did a quarter cup and we loved it but use from 2-4 Tablespoons to get a nice flavor without overpowering it with booze.

I hope you will take the time to visit my friends who are participating in this months Progressive Eats; I know you will find some amazing recipes that we hope you can use during your holiday festivities.

Welcome to another edition of Progressive Eats, our virtual version of a progressive dinner party. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a progressive dinner involves going from house to house, enjoying a different course at each location. With Progressive Eats, a theme is chosen each month, members share recipes suitable for a delicious meal or party, and you can hop from blog to blog to check them out.

Great Holiday Desserts

Cookies

Pies and Tarts

PIN IT! ‘Pumpkin Cheesecake with Walnuts and Bourbon Caramel Sauce’

Yield: 10 -12 Servings