Thanksgiving Desserts---A little late....

I am a little late posting but I guess it is better late than never! Anyways I was in charge of bringing desserts for Thanksgiving so I wanted to do a couple of different things, I decided on Pumpkin Cheesecake, Dutch Apple Pie and Cinnamon Cream Cheese Bundt Cake I found on Ordinary Day.

The pumpkin cheesecakes I have made many many times before, but this time I decided I wanted to try them cupcake size and mini cupcake size. Let me just tell you...they were a hit! Who can pass up a miniature sized cheesecake! I do have to apologize however, because I didn't get any pictures of what the finished product looked like. Think yummy piped whipped cream on top of each!

The apple pie I had actually made last year for Thanksgiving, it was really good however its was a little too liquidy in my opinion. So this time around I just added a little extra flour and it was absolutely perfect! Dutch apple pie is my mom's favorite so I had to make this one again this year.

The Cinnamon Cream Cheese Bundt Cake I saw on Michelle's blog One Ordinary Day a few weeks back and I just thought it sounded delicious! However the recipe calls for Brown Sugar Cinnamon Spice Swirl Cream Cheese and I looked everywhere for it for weeks until finally one day I stumbled upon it at Rice Epicurean here in Houston. I was so excited I bought 3 of them!



Cinnamon Cream Cheese Bundt Cake from Michelle at One Ordinary Day which she adapted from My Recipes and Smitten Kitchen

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp
8 oz. Philadelphia Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Spice Swirl Cream Cheese, at room temp
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt


Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray a 12 cup bundt pan with baking spray.

Place butter and cream cheese in mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Add sugar, increase mixer to high speed and beat for 5 mins, until mixture is light and airy. Add eggs, one at a time , beating after each addition. Add vanilla and cinnamon, then flour and salt all at one time. Beat just until incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared pan and even out the top.


Bake until cake is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 mins. Remove cake from oven to cooling rack. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely. Glaze with Cinnamon glaze. (recipe below)
Cinnamon Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Mix ingredients in small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake and Enjoy!!!

This cake was really good, its light and moist and ohh soo yummy! My family loved it and so did I. I would definitely make again. I do think my bundt pan might be 10 cups so it was pretty full, but it baked up nicely. (It did rise over the center but didnt cause any issues and this glaze was amazing. I heated it up just a little in the microwave for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving!

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes (This recipe comes from a copycat of the Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake)

1 1/2 cups graham crackers crumbs

5 tbsp. butter melted

1 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar

3 8oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin ( I used Libby's)

3 eggs

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

whipped cream and or caramel, for serving

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Make the crust by combining the graham crackers crumbs with the melted butter and tbsp sugar in a medium bowl. Stir well enough to coat all of the crumbs with the butter, but not so much as to turn the mixture into paste. Keep it crumbly. ( I did 1. 5 times the recipe for the crust cause thats my favorite part.) Press the crumbs into the bottom of the liners.

To make into cupcake sized, put about 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture into the paper liners and smooth out with the back of a spoon. For the mini sized cheesecakes use about a teaspoon of crumb mixture. Bake the crust for 5 mins then set aside until you are ready to fill.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, 1 cup of sugar, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add the pumpkin, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice and continue to beat until smooth and creamy.

Pour the filling into the paper liner almost filling to the top. Bake for about 18-22 mins. The tops will turn a bit darker at this point, remove from the oven and allow the cheesecakes to chill.

Once the cheesecakes comes to room temp, put into the refrigerator. Serve with whipped topping and caramel.

These are a becoming a family favorite and I am sure I will be making them again next Thanksgiving. I enjoyed them even more since they were more bite sized then a slice of normal cheesecake.

Dutch Apple Pie Recipe from Recipezaar

1 homemade or ready made pie crust

5 1/2 cups peeled, cored and sliced cooking apples (I used 6 Granny Smith Apples)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons flour (I used about 4 1/2)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup butter, at room temp

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Fit pie crust into pie plate. (If needed)

In a large bowl, mix sliced apples, lemon juice, both sugars, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Pile into crust.

Prepare topping:

In a medium bowl, with a pastry blender, mix flour, sugars, and butter until coarsely crumbled.

Sprinkle evenly over apples.

Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes.

If you love apple pie you definitely need to try this pie! It is delish! You can also refrigerate and just re-heat at 350 before serving. Cover with foil to keep from burning the crumb topping!

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