Pumpkin puree is sometimes hard to find, but it is easy to make your own. It takes a little time, but is worth the effort. Remember that the pumpkin’s shell weighs a lot. For this recipe, you will need 450 g (1 lb) pumpkin without shell and seeds.
Ingredients
- 1 portion New York cheesecake
- 1 lb (450 g) pumpkin, peeled and deseeded (to replace the cream)
- 5 oz (150 g) ginger biscuits, crushed (to replace 150 g (5 oz) of digestives)
- 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out (instead of vanilla sugar)
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- 1½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/gas 4).
- Cut the peeled and deseeded pumpkin into smaller pieces. Boil in water until soft, for 30-40 minutes. Drain well and cool. Process into a smooth purée and drain off any excess liquid. You need about 150 ml (5 fl oz) of thick purée.
- Make the biscuit base according to the basic recipe, but replace half the digestives with crushed ginger biscuits. Prebake the base and let cool.
- Make the cheesecake mixture according to the basic recipe, but replace the cream with the pumpkin and the vanilla sugar with vanilla seeds from the pod. Add the pumpkin purée, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon, and pour the mixture over the biscuit base.
- Bake the cheesecake in the middle of the oven for about 55 minutes, according to the basic recipe.
- Turn off the oven and leave the cake to stand for another 30 minutes.