Discover a Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake with Maple Pecan Brittle
Velvety, spiced and just sweet enough, this delightful dessert is a celebration of harvest warmth. I skip tinned pumpkin – it lacks depth and flavor – so I recommend baking some butternut or Kent squash. Roasting enhances the inherent sugars removing excess moisture, producing a smooth, flavourful puree imparting genuine complexity. Golden nut brittle provides the final flourish: golden, nutty and with just the right amount of crunch against the cheesecake’s creamy softness.
Autumn Cheesecake and Maple Pecan Brittle
For 200g pumpkin puree, dice 350-400g peeled, deseeded pumpkin in sections, bake, loosely covered, at 390F until tender without browning. Process using a powerful blender.
Prep a brief 10 minutes
Cook 1 hour 45 minutes
Cool 1 hour
Chill 6 hr+
Serves 8 to 10
For the Base
- 200g ginger nut biscuits
- rich butter, liquefied, with more for the tin
- sea salt
For the Filling
- 500g cream cheese
- white sugar
- Finely grated zest of 1 orange
- homemade puree (see introduction)
- thickener
- cinnamon spice
- warm ginger
- nutmeg
- clove spice
- room-temperature eggs, not cold
- sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Pecan Garnish
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- fine sugar
- chopped pecans, roughly chopped
- sea salt flakes
- 150ml double cream
Preheat your oven to 185C (165C fan) and lightly grease the base and sides with a springform pan. In a food processor the cookies to fine crumbs, place in a container. Mix in the butter and salt, combine so the crumbs are evenly damp. Tip into the prepared pan, press down firmly, bake for 10 minutes, then remove and leave to cool.
Turn down the setting to 175C (155C fan). In the meantime, put the cheese, sweetener, and zest in the bowl of an electric mixer, whip on low speed on medium-low until smooth and creamy. Mix in the pumpkin puree, cornflour and spices, then mix at low speed until incorporated. Introduce the eggs separately, mixing thoroughly after each one, follow with the cream and extract, and beat until smooth.
Transfer the pumpkin filling on to the cooled biscuit base even the surface with a small spatula. Give it a gentle shake on a worktop to remove bubbles, then heat the dessert on the middle rack for about three-quarters of an hour until the sides are firm and a soft center. Turn off the oven, keep the oven slightly open and leave the cheesecake to cool for 60 minutes. After cooling, cool in the fridge (and up to three days), until completely set.
In the meantime, prepare the brittle (ahead of time). Heat the oven to 410F and line a small oven tray with parchment. Stir together the syrup and sweetener in a small saucepan and heat slowly on low briefly. Add in the pecans and sea salt, take off the stove transfer to the sheet. Bake for about eight minutes, until crisp, then remove and leave to cool. When fully hardened, chop into irregular pieces place in a container frozen.
Release the dessert from its tin move to a plate. Whip the cream to a light consistency, then spoon on top of the cake leaving space around. Scatter most of the pecan brittle over the top, then serve with extra pecan brittle alongside.
