Pumpkin Custard Cheesecake

Pumpkin Custard Cheesecake

On Hand Ingredients - The beginning of creating.

Let's be honest here - I do not profess to be a baker.  I am a cook, plain and simple. However, I would not mind getting better at baking. Taking into account that I love creating recipes from my head, I am going out on a limb with this one!

Upon searching the pantry shelves and my refrigerator, I found items I felt needed to get used up. I did not have enough to make a normal cheesecake and not wanting to take a spin through the grocery store and spend more money, I wondered if I had just the right ingredients to make some kind of dessert. The idea I came up with was to create a "Pumpkin Custard Cheesecake" out of what I have on hand. My initial thoughts were if I can take the idea of a cheesecake and a custard and blend the two, maybe, just maybe I would have created a tasty dessert - cooking on a budget style. Also, one of my flaws is that I am an impatient person. Instead of doing things the way a conventional baker might do, I opted to put all of the pumpkin custard ingredients together in the bowl all at once. Admittedly, my cream cheese was not quite soft enough and therefore when I mixed it there were tiny lumps of cream cheese that did not get thoroughly blended. My thoughts were that they would melt into the mix while baking - we'll see how that plays out.  When I removed it from the oven you could see the little bits of cream cheese so that has to be addressed and I will revamp the recipe I wrote up and the changes will be reflected below.

Start out by blending 2 cups finely ground graham crackers with 1 stick of melted butter. Add this mix into a spring form pan. Using a 1 cup measuring cup, press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and up the sides. When you are done with this, place in the freezer while you are completing the rest of the recipe.

Graham Cracker Crust

1-15 oz. can pumpkin
8 oz. cream cheese - room temperature
1-12 oz. can evaporated milk
2 eggs - lightly beaten
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 pinch nutmeg

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, the eggs and vanilla and beat with a hand held mixer until smooth. Add in the pumpkin, evaporated milk and spices. Mix for 2-3 minutes until all ingredients are well incorporated.
Add the filling to the awaiting spring form pan which has been placed on a cookie sheet.

Ready for the oven - fingers crossed!

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Allow the custard cheesecake to cool COMPLETELY before removing the spring form. Start out cooling on a rack for about 3 hours then place it in the refrigerator to finish cooling.

This tasted good; although it may not quite be exactly what I was going for. However, the flavor is good and my family likes it - it will get gobbled up, that's for sure!
The good things are: I did not have to spend any more money to put this dessert together. All ingredients were from what I had on hand. Lessons in baking were learned. My family enjoys it. And, it fits in with Cooking on A Budget's theme - be creative with the use of any and all ingredients
on hand and let imagination be the guide. So take a look around your house to see what you can craft from your imagination!

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