Tis the season for lots of pumpkin!  Pumpkins here are not like the ones I can get at home (St Helena), or like my grand-parents grew, with their dark green skins and bright orange flesh inside!  I haven't tried cooking any of the orange ones found here, as they look all dry and forced ripened, so they appear to be grainy and bitter!  To get around this.....Libby's 100% canned pumpkin found in Waitrose, is the best answer to proper home-grown stuff, and can easily be found all year round!

Yesterday I made a Pumpkin Cheesecake.  It is one of my absolute favourite baked cheesecakes, even though for some pumpkin is a bit like Marmite.....you either like it or you hate it.....but in our house we love both!

How to cook Good Food and Franglais Kitchen host a One ingredient challenge, which this month happens to be pumpkin or squash so my Pumpkin Cheesecake is perfect for this. (Recipe Below).

My friend Sue gave me this recipe about 20 years ago.  I think she got it from her aunt after visiting her in the USA or Canada. Having twigged it  with varying amounts of cream cheese or the years, I think its now in a good place!

Ingredients - Base:

1 1/4 cups of finely crushed ginger biscuits crumbs

1/4 cup of melted butter

Filling:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

14 oz cooked pumpkin or a 14 oz can of pumpkin

600g of full fat cream cheese (I used supermarket value brand)

2 eggs

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground mixed spice

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius and base line a 9 inch round, deep spring-form pan.  Half fill a Roasting tin with hot water....to use later. 

Mix the biscuit crumbs and melted butter together and press into the base of the pan.  Bake for ten minutes and then remove from the oven.

Cream together the cream cheese and sugar then mix in the eggs, one at a time.  Add the spices and mix until well combined.  Using a large metal spoon, gentle fold in the pumpkin.....dont worry if there are areas of white, it looks great in the cooked cheesecake.

Pour the cheesecake mixture over the base and place in the middle of the oven.  Place the roasting tin with water at the base of the oven, to create a steamy atmosphere in the oven.  

Bake for 40 -45 minutes until the outside edges of the cheesecake are firm to touch, but the middle of the cheesecake still has a slight wobble.  (Try not to open the oven until around the 40 minute mark, otherwise the steam will escape).

Cool and then chill well....overnight, if you can wait!