CRAZED BY THE HAYES PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.  ~Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

So for those of you who don’t know, I live in Virginia, which takes part in the Helen Hayes Awards (basically like the Tony Awards for the DC, VA and MD areas) It’s a pretty big deal, and yet, I have never been. However, this year I was fortunate enough to work with some great theatre groups and will be attending the ceremony and after-party this coming Monday.

In the past, I loved getting ready for parties! I mean, I would spend hours dancing in front of my mirror pretending I was at the actual event, seeing how I would look moving to certain songs in my outfit of choice. However, getting ready for this ceremony, what with all that is going on for me mentally, has proved more difficult. I find myself going through all my different outfit choices and wondering if they make me look as fat as I think I look, or if my love handles are more pronounced in one dress over another. I compare my reflection now to previous times I might have worn the dress: “have I gained weight?” “Do I look pudgier?” “Am I as sexy now as I was then?”

It’s ridiculous. And annoying. And ruining a ritual I used to really enjoy. Every girl, every woman, every person should be able to enjoy making themselves feel amazingly attractive. It should not be a constant battle with an insanely cruel inner voice. As we go from outfit to outfit we should be able to love the new personas we can take on, The Sexy Temptress, The Beautiful Princess, The Coy Flirt…Not simply tell ourselves we should give up and embrace The Chubby Loner we think we see.

So, this week, in honor of confidence in one’s versatility to pull off any and every look, I am going to bake one of my favorite desserts. Cheesecake.  

I have always loved cheesecake. I think it’s one of the more versatile (see, we’re tying it all together here) desserts to me. And not just in terms of flavor, but in terms of attitude. For example, it can be a very sexy, sensual dessert: the softness, the creaminess, how it melts around the fork. Or it can be a really casual, “oh-my-god-this-f’ing-cheesecake-is-so-f’ing-good” sort of a dessert, slathered in blueberry sauce at an all-night diner. So, as a means of grabbing the bull by the horns I am going to be making not only cheesecake, but pumpkin cheesecake, with a recipe from the blissfully unhealthy, Paula Deen.

Now, for Paula this apparently takes an hour of hands on time, but for me, I’m gonna probably double that. I have a sneaking suspicion that somehow my skills are not as fine-tuned as Paula’s, especially considering the fact that the good people of Bed, Bath & Beyond had to walk me through what a springform pan was. If you, too, do not know about the wonders of springform pans, click on the link: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springform_pan), or just pretend you don’t know what it is and click on it so I feel like I’m in good company.

Here is Paula Deen’s recipe for what I have now deemed: CRAZED BY THE HAYES PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE:

Ingredients

Crust:

•   1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

•   3 tablespoons light brown sugar

•   1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

•   1 stick melted salted butter

•    

Filling:

•   3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

•   1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin

•   3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

•   1/4 cup sour cream

•   1 1/2 cups sugar

•   1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

•   1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

•   1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

•   2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

•   1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For filling:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.

Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place in oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Okay, so the baking was not that bad…aside from the cord to the electric mixer getting caught in the mixer itself…and me possibly buying waaaaay more pumpkin puree than was necessary**…But other than that, it was actually pretty easy! It took me only a little over an hour to put it all together and into the oven. And from what I tasted off of the spoon, I must say I have high hopes for the final product…

CUT TO 1 HOUR LATER!

My Pumpkin Cheesecake is out of the oven and looks awesome! It did crack a little down the center while cooling on the counter (as cheesecakes are wont to do) but I was prepared, thanks to the good people at The Food Network, with a bottle of whipped cream! Now these central cracks will be hidden by the whipped cream, cinnamon, ground cloves and nutmeg (the three spices already in the dessert)

Now, I play the waiting game until I get to go to rehearsal and share my creation with my fellow cast mates!

CUT TO REHEARSAL!

It was awesome! Everyone seemed to really like the recipe! Apparently Miss Paula Deen sets you up for a light and fluffy cheesecake with an awesome pumpkin kick! Someone even described the taste as “erotic.” See? Totally versatile! I highly recommend everyone out there try it!

Til next time,

D

**When I told my mother this she replied with, “you didn’t make your own pumpkin puree?” I explained to her that obviously I spent too much time churning my own butter for the recipe to puree anything else.