Happy Birthday, hubby! Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

It's my husband's birthday today!  He finally caught up with me (for a few months).  He LOVES pumpkin pie, so when I offered to make a pumpkin cheesecake for him tonight, he enthusiastically said YESYESYES!

I found a recipe on Once Upon a Chef that looked promising...

Ingredients:

• Crust
• 7-1/2 ounces gingersnaps (or 1-1/2 cups finely ground gingersnap crumbs)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• I doubled it because I wanted to go up the sides a bit.  It was too much! I'll probably toast the left over crumbs to use as a crumble for something...

• Filling
• 1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée
• Not pumpkin pie filling, or it'll be too sweet and too spiced!
• 1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Three 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 5 large eggs, room temperature

• Caramel sauce
• There is a recipe on the original above, but I'm opting to use the Apple Cider Caramel I made last week.  Yummmmmy!!

Instructions:

1.  Mise en place the crust:
   
2. Preheat oven to 325°F.
3. Wrap a 10" springform pan in several layers of aluminum foil (heavy duty is best) and spray the inside with non-stick cooking spray.
    
• This step is to keep the water out when you do the water bath.  We discovered later that I didn't have a roasting pan the right size, so really didn't need to do this step. Oh well.
4. Blitz the cookies and brown sugar in a food processor until a fine dust.
5. Stream in melted butter while pulsing until combined
6. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the springform pan and up the sides a bit, as desired.
7. Bake crust @ 325° for 15 minutes.
8. Remove and set on a cooling rack while you make the filling.
9. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil to use for the water bath.
10. Mise en place the filling:
    
11. In a sauce pan, combine pumpkin, sugar, spices, and salt.
12. Bring to a "sputter" (this mixture is too thick to really boil), stirring constantly.
13. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes until it is thick, dark, and shiny.  Stir constantly!
    
14. Put the hot mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer (you can use a large food processor if you have an 11-12C one).
15. Beat for a minute or so to release steam and smooth out the texture.
16. Add the cream and cream cheese and process for 30 seconds to a minute.  Scrape the sides of the bowl, as needed.
     
17. Add the eggs and lightly mix until just combined (15 seconds at most).  Do not over-mix this!
     
18. Put the foil-wrapped springform pan and crust into a larger roasting pan with high edges. Pour the batter into the cooled crust.
    
19. Pour enough boiling water (step 9) into the roasting pan to reach 1/2 way up the springform pan.
• I didn't have a roasting pan (ooooops), so I put a cake tin filled with water into the oven to at least introduce some moisture.  My cheesecake cracked a little, but not enough to worry about.
20. Bake at 325° until just set - about 1 1/2 hours.
21. Remove and put the entire roasting pan on a wire rack to cool for 45 minutes.
22. Remove the springform pan from the water bath, discard the foil, and put on a wire rack to continue to cool for 3 hours.
23. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (and up to overnight).

Here it is all ready to go - we just have to wait 7 hours for it to cool!

Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts

Last night I posted a recipe I tried for Apple Cider Caramel.  Yummmmmm

Now today, the recipe I made to go with it:  Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts (based off the recipe from King Arthur's Flour)!  I don't have a doughnut pan (yet), so made them in my mini-muffin pans to resemble doughnut holes.  It worked pretty well, I think!

Ingredients
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup applesauce, unsweetened
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons boiled cider
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
1/8 teaspoon ground clove*
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour

* The original calls for just cinnamon; I added more for the flavors I like.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Put 1/2 C cider into a sauce pan, bring to a boil, and reduce until just a few Tbsps are left.  Set aside to cool.
3. In the stand of a mixer, combine all the ingredients except the flour and mix until well combined.
4. Add the flour and fold in gently until just mixed.  Lumps are ok; overmixing is bad.  Overmixing = tough nuggets that resemble doughnut holes but are no fun to eat.
5. Spray mini muffin pans (for doughnut holes) or doughnut tins with non-stick cooking spray.
6. Fill pans.
   
7. Bake ~10 minutes for doughnut holes or 15-18 minutes for doughnut pans.  A toothpick inserted at the end should come out clean, like with cake.
8. Loosen doughnuts from pan and let cool for 5 minutes.
9. Turn out onto cooling racks to cool.
10. (Optional) While still warm, but not hot, toss in a bowl of cinnamon-sugar to coat.
11. (Optional) Drizzle/glaze/dunk in the Apple Cider Caramel sauce from last night.

I skipped the sugar coating once I tasted them. SO yummy without the extra sweetness.  The caramel is a nice addition instead.

Deep Dark Gingerbread Waffles

I found this recipe recently at The Smitten Kitchen and just HAD to try it. I LOVE spicy, warm gingerbread - so the idea of making waffles with those beautiful flavors is enticing.

Let me say this up front: I'm a novice in the kitchen. I adore watching food TV and am learning a lot, but I want to be clear... I'm a hot mess sometimes. I'm learning to try...and to laugh at the mistakes and messes. And sometimes I get lucky and things work... and sometimes... they don't. ;)

So, since I haven't made this before, I followed the recipe exactly. I always follow the recipe as closely as possible the first time.  Once I've had it, I can make adjustments for future attempts.

So, here are my photos, my notes... and the result:

1. Gather your stuff!

Fancy chefs will tell you this is called "mise en place", which is French for "putting in place", and really is just a fancy way of saying BE PREPARED! I'm the daughter of generations of Boy Scouts - BE PREPARED! I'm a HUGE fan of all things Disney - BE PREPARED! I'm learning to do more than make a mess in the kitchen - BE PREPARED!

This step is critical, because you're making sure you have all the stuff you need (ingredients and tools) and you're reading through the recipe to get those items together - so it's a chance to make sure you understand the process.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, yogurt thinned with a little milk, fresh apple cider or even stout beer
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted, plus extra for brushing waffle iron
• Powdered sugar for serving

Note: I find it much more efficient to put things away once I've used them.  Measure out a cup of flour, put it in the sifter, PUT THE FLOUR AWAY.  Measure out the spices, put them in the sifter, PUT THE SPICES AWAY. (This is a lesson learned from my mom who is not a fan of a mess in her kitchen.)

2. Dry stuff

I sifted together all the dry ingredients called for in the recipe into the bowl of my KitchenAid so I could mix it all in there in another step or 2.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

A macro shot of the flour and spices because I love how it looks. No other reason.

3. Wet stuff

I whisked together all the wet ingredients called for in the recipe into a separate bowl.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, molasses, sugars, egg and butter until combined. The butter will likely firm up and make little white splotches throughout; this is a-okay.

4. Combine stuff

Pour the wet into the dry and mix-y mix-y!

So here's where things got tricky...

5. Put the batter in the waffle iron

Original instructions:

Heat waffle iron to a middle heat. Either brush waffle iron with melted butter or spray it lightly with a nonstick cooking spray. Ladle gingerbread batter into waffle iron until they’re about 3/4 filled out. Cook according to manufacturer’s directions. In my waffle iron, I like to cook them 1 to 2 minutes more.

My notes: My square waffle iron liked about 1/3 cup of batter per square. I tried to eyeball the first batch – that was ugly. I tried 1/2 cup for the second batch – that was messy. 1/3 cup was juuuuuust right!

6. Remove the waffles

Original instructions (these made me giggle...and then curse):

To remove waffles: Open waffle iron. Wait about 30 seconds, giving them a chance to steam off a little. With tongs in one hand and a small spatula in the other, gently, carefully lift corners of each waffle section enough to slide the spatula underneath, then lift and slide some more until you can get the section out. Curse Deb, because these waffles are very sticky and eager to tear. Trust Deb, that they will be worth it. Spread them on a tray in a single layer to let cool slightly; within 1 minute, they should be crisp to the touch and easier to lift. Repeat with remaining batter. Try not to stack waffles — even though they’re firm, they will stick.
Serve immediately, dusted with powdered sugar and, if you’re feeling fancy, a dollop of barely or unsweetened whipped cream or crème fraîche.

My notes: She ain't kidding! First batch was a mess. I took a picture for giggles:

Second batch, I was afraid I hadn't let them cook long enough, so I gave them a bunch of extra time. They came out nicely, but when cooled a bit, became more than a little crunchy. Don't do this. Original author was right – open the waffle iron, let it sit for 30 seconds to a minute, and THEN (and ONLY then) should you try to remove. Very patiently. VERY patiently. (Did I mention you need to be patient?)

I loved these.  Great spice flavor and nice texture (in the later batches). I have leftovers packed away for breakfasts. We'll see how well they do reheated.