There has been a storm of dessert making lately. When you end up with three cakes in one house it is best that they be shared as much as possible, so in that spirit, here’s a taste of what’s been comin’ out of the oven lately…

Need I say more? Inspired by my favorite dessert at the best restaurant in the world and an excess of unused liquor in the cabinet, we figured what the hell…why not make our own pumpkin & bourbon cheesecake?

The recipe I followed was adapted from one on Epicurious – you can find the original here.

Start with half a bag of ginger snaps and a stick of butter…melt the butter, smash the cookies, and mix them into a crust. Spray a 9 1/2″ springform pan with cooking spray and line it with the crust – it should cover the bottom and go about 1 inch up the sides.

For the filling, you’ll need

1 can of pumpkin
3 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 T heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 T bourbon or whiskey
1/2 cup sugar
1 T cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3 8 ounce packages of cream cheese

One important tip I’ve read in several places is to have all your ingredients at room temperature before you start – it helps keep the consistency smooth.

To make and bake the cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, cream, vanilla, and bourbon.

In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Add cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes (note: this will be very tiring because the cream cheese is so thick, but you can do it). Reduce speed to medium, then add pumpkin mixture and beat until smooth.

Pour filling into crust, smoothing top, then put springform pan in a shallow baking pan (in case springform leaks). Bake until center is just set, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool. Once it’s cooled completely, chill it in the fridge for at least six hours before serving.

Try it!!! You’ll be glad you did…