Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

One of the reasons fall is my favorite time of year is my love for pumpkin. I love pumpkin bread, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie, and, well, the list could go on! Last night I combined my love for pumpkin with my love for cream cheese desserts, and made a pumpkin spice cheesecake. I scanned many different recipes for pumpkin cheesecake, but I couldn't find one that fit completely with the quantity (and type) of ingredients I already had on hand, so I created my own recipe based on what I thought might work from looking at other recipes. My pumpkin spice cheesecake probably has a little more "spice" in it than most - but we love cinnamon around our house.

This cheesecake filling made enough for two cheesecakes - one with a crust (store bought graham cracker crust because I was in a hurry and it is easy) and one without a crust. We tasted the one without the crust, which is why there is not a picture of that one. :) However, I think if you made a true cheesecake (in a springform pan), this would be the perfect amount of filling for one cheesecake.

Ingredients

• 2 packages of cream cheese, softened
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin (I only slightly considered using some of Ella's pureed baby food pumpkin before chickening out)
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 eggs

Mix cream cheese, flour, and sugar until well-combined. Add pumpkin, sour cream, and spices and mix well. Add eggs one at a time on low speed until they are just incorporated. Pour mixture into graham cracker crust (or pie pan if you are doing a crustless version).

Bake at 325° for approximately 45 minutes in crust, or 30 minutes without crust.

Add cool whip on top as an added touch!