Pumpkin Bourbon Cheesecake with Spiced Pecan Crust (Low Carb and Gluten Free)

I’ve always thought pumpkin cheesecake sounded delicious and considered making it for Thanksgiving, but ended up going with the more traditional pumpkin or pecan pie. This year, it was a no-brainer, given the relative ease of making it low carb. I took a recipe from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book as my guide, although I modified more than just the sweetener. The carb-filled graham cracker crust had to go, so I replaced it with ground pecans and almonds. The filling called for 3 bricks of cream cheese, and I cut this back to 2, and reduced the other ingredients accordingly. I am glad I did, as the final result was big enough and filling enough as it was. But I did use their trick of drying the pumpkin puree between paper towels to reduce moisture and make the whole cake less mushy.

I dressed up the final product with toasted pecans and a caramel bourbon glaze made with erythritol. The thing to know here is that while erythritol will caramelize nicely when hot, it will start to harden back up quickly as it cools. You aren’t going to get a nice, soft caramel sauce here. You need to pour it onto the cake while it is still quite hot, and let it cool and harden. If it hardens while still in the pan, just heat it back up again and add a little more cream or liquid to get it soft again.

My whole Thanksgiving meal was a resounding success, even with my low carb changes. My son asked for seconds of only the stuffing made with my low carb quick bread! And I got some of the lowest post-meal blood sugar readings that I’ve had in a while – after Thanksgiving dinner, the ultimate in over-the-top feasts. Okay, so I ran a 5k turkey trot in the morning, which likely helped, but I know that my planning ahead so that I could indulge played a huge part. With Christmas, my favourite holiday, looming ahead, it’s a relief to know that I can find ways to indulge as much as the next person without going too far off track and putting my health at risk.

Now, if someone can just tell me how to release my cheesecakes from the bottom of the spring-form pan so that I can put them on pretty serving dishes, I would be forever in your debt!

Pumpkin Bourbon Cheesecake with Spiced Pecan Crust

Crust:
¾ cup pecans
½ cup almonds
1 ½ teaspoon granulated erythritol or xylitol
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
4 tablespoon butter, melted plus extra for brushing pan

Filling:
1 15oz can pumpkin puree
1 lb cream cheese, softened
½ cup erythritol
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon salt
25 drops stevia extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoon bourbon
3 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup heavy cream

Topping:
24 pecan halves, toasted
2 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon granulated erythritol
1 tablespoon heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon

For the crust, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grind pecans and almonds in a food processor until they resemble a coarse meal. Pour into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan and stir in sweetener and spices until combined. Pour melted butter over and stir until thoroughly combined, then press mixture firmly and evenly into bottom of pan.

Bake until just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Let cool until pan isn’t too hot to touch, and then wrap outside of pan with two sheets of heavy duty foil. Set in a large roasting pan. Bring a kettle of water to a boil.

For the filling, line a baking sheet with a tea towel and then two layers of paper towel. Spread pumpkin puree out evenly on paper towel and then top with two more layers of paper towel. Press until top layer is saturated with moisture. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in erythritol and spices until incorporated. Beat in dried pumpkin puree, stevia, vanilla and bourbon. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Beat in heavy cream. Scrape down beaters and sides of bowl as needed.

Brush inside of springform pan with extra melted butter, being careful not to disturb baked crust. Pour filling over crust. Set the whole roasting pan with cheesecake inside on the middle oven rack and pour boiling water into roasting pan until it reaches about halfway up sides of springform pan. Bake cheesecake until set, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Let cheesecake cool in roasting pan for 45 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool further, running a sharp knife round edges of cake every hour or so. Remove sides of pan, cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator about three hours.

For the topping, place toasted pecans around edges of cake. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in erythritol and raise heat to medium. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously, until light amber in colour, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in cream, vanilla and bourbon. Mixture will bubble and froth. Stir vigorously and place back over heat, stirring continuously until all ingredients are combined.

Remove from heat and cool until just beginning to thicken, then pour over chilled cake, allowing it to drip down sides. If it begins to harden up, place back on heat and add a splash of cream and stir, then pour over cake.

Serves 12. 18g total carbs per serving, but only 7g if you subtract erythritol.