Hey, That's Pin-Tastic!

I'm linking up for another week of 

with AP @ I Love You More Than Carrots

And, of course, I'm back at it with the baking. I just can't help myself. This is actually only 1 of 5 recipes I am using this week from Pinterest. It is my go to menu making source these days! 

It had been a while since I had made a cheesecake and for some reason I have been really wanting one lately. Oh, goodness. Who am I kidding. There is a reason. They are DELICIOUS. Add pumpkin to it? Brown Sugar? Yes, please! 

 I followed the directions from The Hungry Mouse, which is where the pin came from. If you want pretty pictures to go along with the directions, she is your woman. I was trying to bake two things at once, so I didn't have time to do a play by play! 

Crust
1 1/2 cups flour
5 Tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder (not sweetened hot chocolate mix)
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
10 Tbls. butter, diced and softened
1/2 cup + 2 Tbls. confectioner’s sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Filling
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbls. vanilla
1 15-oz. can 100% pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
24 oz. cream cheese (that’s 3 8-oz. bricks), at room temperature
1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
4 eggs

Makes 1 9-inch cheesecake

*Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter or oil and set it aside.

*Put the powdered sugar and butter in the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl if you’re mixing by hand).

*Beat together until well combined.

*Toss in the egg yolks and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

*Add the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

*Beat until the dry ingredients are well combined.

*Scrape the dough out and plop it into your pan. With your hands, press the dough so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pan (stop maybe a half an inch from the top edge).

*Prick the dough in several places with a fork. The butter in the dough will release steam as it bakes, and those holes allow it to escape—and keep your crust from getting big air bubbles.

Pop the pan into your pre-heated, 350-degree oven. Bake it for about 20 minutes, until it’s completely opaque in color and the edges are starting to brown.

*When it’s done, yank the pan out of the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool. If you do have air bubbles under the crust, poke one or two very small holes in the crust and gently press the air out to deflate it.

When your crust has cooled to room temperature, make the filling.

*Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. (If you left your oven on, don’t forgot to drop the heat. The cheesecake itself bakes at 25 degrees cooler than the crust.)

*Put the cream cheese in the bowl of your mixer. Beat it to break it up.

*Add the brown sugar.

*Beat until light and fluffy.

*Toss in the eggs. 

*Beat well to incorporate the eggs. 

*Toss in the pumpkin.

*And the vanilla extract.

*Beat to combine. The filling will be thick and creamy.

*Toss in the flour and pumpkin pie spice.

Pour the filling into your cooled crust.

*Beat gently to combine.

*Pour the filling into your cooled crust.Pour it just until it fills the crust. Depending on how high up the sides of the pan your crust comes, you may wind up with a little extra filling.

*Pop the pan into your pre-heated 325-degree oven. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, until it *looks* set (i.e. firm and opaque) but the center jiggles a little when you move the pan.

*Turn the heat off, crack the oven door about 4 or 5 inches. Leave the cheesecake in there (with the door cracked open) for an additional 3o minutes.

*Yank the cheesecake out of the oven when that last 30 minutes is up. Then, cool it in the pan on a rack for another 30 minutes. Then, pop in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight before serving.

The only thing I would change about this recipe is the crust. It just wasn't sweet enough for me and Matt even agreed. I think next time I'll do a basic graham crust or somehow a sweeter chocolate crust. The filling, though, was so good to me. But, you can't really go wrong with TWENTY FOUR ounces of cream cheese, now can you????