Saturday, November 23, 2013

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake: the thanksgiving dessert that lets the cook relax too

















 



This Thanksgiving dessert is brought to you by Victoria Abbott aka Mary Jane and Victoria Maffini who are always thankful when recipes seem foolproof. In fact, they're so thankful that they have a little contest for people who leave a comment at the end of this post.


 

Oh Thanksgiving! What’s not to love? Family and friends gather around to celebrate with food and affection. It’s a lovely time without a shopping frenzy leading up to it. And in our family, we feel we have a lot to be thankful for.   We are grateful for the little mister's regained health and for the success of the Victoria Abbott books. We're grateful we can write books together and still get along. I mean no one really dies. 

But back to food: 


 MJ enjoys cooking turkey and loves all the trimmings too, but somehow baking a dessert on the day always seems too much of a big deal. And face it, she likes to relax on the day too. So she is always looking for desserts that can be made at least the day before. With pumpkin being such a tradition, pumpkin pie is obvious, but also seemed a bit too much like work.  But once MJ found this recipe, it became the instant tradition for our Thanksgiving dinner. It’s done a day ahead and just needs to be served with a flourish. As Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October, this has already happened of course. But as usual, it was a big hit and in fact, there have already been two pumpkin cheesecakes at Maffini celebrations this fall.

Something tells us that even though it’s business as usual up here that day, there will be another turkey and yet another pumpkin cheesecake this coming Thursday. Everyone would be thankful for that!

So here’s that Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake that’s worth repeating:

2 cups finely crushed ginger snaps  
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3  8 oz packages Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs (room temperature)
1 ¼ cup canned pumpkin (or cooked mashed pumpkin) Most recipes say 1 cup, but I like the texture better with 1 ¼ and it's not quite as sweet. Suit yourselves.
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Dash ground cloves (optional)
Preheat your oven to 325°F   




Mix cookie crumbs, nuts and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

 









Beat the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each just until blended. 











 

Remove 1 cup plain batter. 















 

Stir remaining sugar, pumpkin and spices into remaining batter using a large spoon. Do not overbeat or you will be a sad puppy.












 

Spoon half the pumpkin batter into crust; top with spoonfuls of the plain batter. Add the second half of pumpkin batter. Top with heaping spoonfuls of plain batter. Four seems to work well.  









 
Swirl with a knife to get marble pattern.













Bake about 50 min. or until center is almost set.

 

Cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours and transfer to a suitably festive cake plate. 

Enjoy every mouthful! 








Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 


Here's a little bit more about Victoria Abbott, author of the book collector mysteries. 

Victoria is an artist and photographer and MJ is the author of 13 books in three other series, as Mary Jane Maffini. They love their book collector mysteries and are happily at work on The Wolfe Widow, third in the series.   They're very excited about the The Sayers Swindle due out in less than a month!



  
The Sayers Swindle, the second in the book collector mysteries will be out in December 3, 2013. 

You can click here to preorder The Sayers Swindle!

Or here for the Kindle version!

Or order through your favorite bookstore - in person or online.

And don't forget to ....

Watch the trailer for The Sayers Swindle!










  

The Christie Curse, the first book collector mystery, launched in March 2013 to great reviews.








 
The Christie Curse is also available in Large Print! Tell your local librarian!


















 Walter, the pug in the series is a dead ringer for Peachy, Victoria's new best friend. 


 Come over and friend Victoria on Facebook

www.facebook.com/BookCollectorMysteries   www.facebook.com/maryjane.maffini

Tell  her  you love the pug!
www.twitter.com/AbbottMysteries
www.pinterest.com/jbinghamkelly


41 comments:

  1. Last year, for the first time, I decided to change up my traditional pumpkin pie by using a ginger snap crust (from a MLK recipe!). It was a delicious change. It looks like it's time for another change - your delicious pumpkin cheesecake with the ginger snap crust will be on our table this year. Love that I can make it the day ahead!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sharon! I hope you all love it. And have a great Thanksgiving.

      Hugs.

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  2. This looks fantastic! Can't wait for THE SAYERS SWINDLE, ladies. And what a perfect titile:). and you also have the perfect attitude--let the cook relax too... xoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have been loving this Thanksgiving Week theme and will be adding a lot of new traditions. Looking forward to trying your stuffing. Thanks, Lucy/Roberta!

      XO

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  3. What a fabulous recipe, Mary Jane. We willl be making it this Thanksgiving---Marc insists. Looking forward to your second book collector mystery, THE SAYERS SWINDLE. Have a wonderfully delicious Thanksgiving.

    ~ Cleo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Cleo! We have made many of your recipes part of our happy eating life!

      XOX

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  4. That's a great recipe! my husband will love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope he does! Thanks so much for coming by!

      Hugs,

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  5. Looks great! I don't know if I will get that ambitious, but maybe........ Oh, and I love totes and dogs, too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Carol, we love how much you love dogs here and elsewhere.

      Good luck!

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  6. You're killing me here. I'll find a substitute for the crust and try it soon. Now I want pumpkin something!!!!! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I wish I'd thought of a gluten free version, Mare. I bet there are lots - just needs GF cookies. Or any GF crumbs with ginger and pecans added, I think.

      Big hugs!

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  7. Thanks for sharing the recipe! Looks very yummy :D Hi and snuggles to Peachy (Yaay, pugs!) and those darling dachshunds, Daisy and Lily <3 <3 <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Back atcha, Ritaestelle! Victoria and I spent the day at the Village Market with Peachy the Pug - in her little winter coat. All the pooches send love back.

      XOXO

      MJ

      Delete
  8. I"m actually not a huge pumpkin fan-not liking pumpkin pie. At our house we actually have pumpkin ice cream pie! Now that I like. I also think I might like this pumpkin cheesecake. I'll have to see if my dog, Sam, will mind if I use some of his canned pumpkin for me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pumpkin ice cream sounds fabulous! I hope Sam will let you have some of his pumpkin.

      Hugs,

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  9. Drooling over the cheesecake. The pug tote would be fun to use.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Barbara! Good luck in the contest!

      Hugs.,

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  10. Thank you for the awesome recipe. Definitely going to be making this for thanksgiving.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you and you family enjoy it, Christina!

      Best of luck in the draw.

      Hugs.

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  11. It does look good. :)
    Loved THE CHRISTIE CURSE.

    Pen M
    pmettert@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Pen M.

      Best of luck in the draw!

      Hugs,

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  12. I love pumpkin, especially at this time of year. Thanks for the recipe, Victoria. I can't wait to read The Sayers Swindle!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Linda! I hope you enjoy both of them.

      Good luck with the draw.

      Hugs.

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  13. The swirl pattern is fabulous! Wow and yum and happy belated Canadian Thanksgiving. :) I love a dessert that can be made ahead.

    Hugs, Daryl / Avery

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Daryl! I am still drooling over your pumpkin French toast!

      XOXO

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  14. As it happens, I baked Mary Jane's cheesecake last Thanksgiving. We *loved* it so much that everyone has requested it again this year. How's that for an endorsement?

    ~Krista

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad of the endorsement, Krista! It is addictive.

      XOXO

      MJ

      Delete
  15. Your swirl patter is so much prettier than mine ever are, I'm going to copy yours. What a delicious way to finish up Thanksgiving Day - and what an adorable new best friend you have, Victoria! My best regards to Peachy, and a warm and happy Thanksgiving to you both.

    Laine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Laine! Daisy and Lily the dachshunds are warming up to their new 'niece'. She really is a peach.

      Hugs,

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  16. This looks amazing! I made a lemon swirl a few years ago for Thxgiving that was good, but I love pumpkin pie too, so am tempted to try this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lemon swirl! I'll be trying that for sure. By the way, the book collector books are full of Kellys. Spelled differently though.

      Cheers, Pamela!

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  17. Wow! Love it - looks so delicious. Thanks for sharing recipe. Goes in my thanksgiving recipe file.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Linda! I'm picking up a lot of Thanksgiving info here today.

      Hugs,.

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  18. The comment kept taking me to a picture of a chicken & pork roast in a pan. Surprising bur funny sort of...

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XNvj2NIgXn4/UnrmLqRgAXI/AAAAAAAABnk/Z5vYHHsFrOU/s1600/emergency+mlk+post+and+morning+glories+001.JPG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is weird. Two weeks ago I did do chicken and roast - I wonder why?

      But I did get your comments, Linda, and you are in the contest.

      Hugs.

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete
  19. Looks great, I would like to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The swirl topping is a beautiful decoration that I am at times a little heavy handed :) This is going into my recipe book and will give it a try.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will confess that the first one I made this year was overswirled, Leni. Still tasted great though.

      Hugs.

      MJ/Victoria

      Delete