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:
3/4 cup pecans
1/2 cup almonds
1 1/2 tsp granulated erythritol or xylitol
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
4 tbsp butter, melted plus extra for brushing pan
Filling:
1 15oz can pumpkin puree
1 lb cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup erythritol
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt
25 drops stevia extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp bourbon
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream
Topping:
24 pecan halves, toasted
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp granulated erythritol
1 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp 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 1/2 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.
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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I made this for Thanksgiving dinner – it was a huge hit! A few oddities – my topping/frosting began to smoke before it boiled, and then almost turned to hard candy in the saucepan, this could be because I’m at high altitude, so I’d go by color rather than by boil in the future (it still worked out). I think it was ready when it turned brown. Also, make sure to read the whole article. I just got all the ingredients, and not the instructions until it was go time, and had to make my husband run out for a disposable roaster pan for the water bath halfway through. Also, the pumpkin drying this is really weird, and was pretty scary for me as a first timer, but it works. I was quite dubious, especially that I would get paper towel crumblies in the cheesecake, but it all went flawlessly. I am not a cook, and I’ve only made a cheesecake once, so I was pretty shocked that this turned out so great. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Marnie – I made this as well this Thanksgiving and my topping did the exact same as yours. It smoked and really never boiled. It became hard in the pan, like you mentioned and it was dark. But I was still able to pour it and it tasted great. I used swerve brand sweetener and wonder if that was the reason.
Too many comments to read through to see if someone answered your question about releasing your cake from the pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper cut to the size of your pan.
There is a lot of controversy as to whether or not distilled alcohols that are grain based are gluten free or not. As it stands though, the general consensus is that bourbon is not safe for people that are Celiac/gluten intolerant. Even corn whiskey is only mostly corn based. It still has some combo of wheat, barley and rye as well. If you are trying to stick to a gluten free diet, I highly recommend omitting the bourbon.
Can I substitute anything (non-alcoholic) for the bourbon in this recipe?
You can just leave it out altogether!
What if I didn’t want to use the sugar substitutes…how would I translate this?
erythritol and 25 drops stevia extract
thank you for your help…..my daughter has an intolerance for Gluten…this looks wonderful but I’m not a fan of using the sugar substitutes….
For the crust, go for about 3 tbsp sugar. For the filling, you want about 1 cup of sugar.
Thank you…so how much for the “frosting” or topping?
For that, just replace the erythritol with sugar in the same amount.
Here is a good informative chart
http://sneakykitchen.com/Glossary/sweetener-equivalents.htm
I agree. we also prefer real sugar.
I’m sure you’ve been asked this numerous times, but could I use granulated Splenda in the recipe instead of the erythritol and stevia extract? I figure I could just use enough Splenda to make the batter taste sweet enough and I will be good. Would this substitute change the outcome much?
For the cheesecake, I don’t think it will be an issue. But you can’t caramelize Splenda so the sauce will be a no-go!
I made this last night for my friend for her birthday. It was fantastic!! Everyone loved it. My only problem was that some of the water got into the foil around the pan and into the pan. I was so worried that my crust would be so soggy, but to my surprise it wasn’t! Thanks so much for a GREAT recipe!!!
It’s really hard to wrap it up tightly enough to keep the water out. Glad it worked out!
This cake was not a huge success for me, but I think the reason is almost completely my fault. I was thrown by the instructions to bake the cheesecake 1 *to* 1 1/2 hrs. I don't think I've ever baked a cheesecake under 1 1/2 hrs, but I started to second-guess myself and eventually pulled it from the oven at about an hour, because it passed the wiggle test–not the most reliable test, as I now know! I also do not like the bourbon flavor (whiskey in a dessert being a first for me) but I wonder if the flavor might have tamed a bit with a longer cooking time. In any case, a gorgeous cake ruined by my own mistake. I loved the crust, the nuts on top, and the bourbon-caramel topping, however! Next time I get around to making this, I'll just be more careful.
I was telling Barb that we might just need to start a group called "pumpkin bourbon anonymous" since we seem to love those two flavors together! Glad that I am in such great company!!
Such a great looking cheesecake for the holidays!
I never knew gluten free and low carb anything could look this delicious. You are amazing! You have literally created a healthier version of EVERYTHING! I will definitely be back often (daily).
Mercy, what I wouldn't do for a slice of that heavenly wonderfulness right now. Pumpkin. Cheesecake. YUM! Can never get enough pumpkin . . . Cheers, Michelle
Oh, I want this so bad. Since I only eat pumpkin around now, I NEVER get sick of it and I love it. And you know me and cheesecake. Bourbon? Holy cow I'm in love with this thing.
oh gosh…that is just…yeah, I'm speechless:)
this looks amazing! but might I ask… what is 'erythritol or xylitol'… and '25 drops stevia extract'??
i looked it up they are both sugar substitutes
HUmm… i love this!!!