This month’s Improv Challenge was to create a recipe using pumpkin and cream cheese. Before I even made this dish, I had it in mind. I still have tons of pumpkin puree left from my 10 pumpkins that I harvested from our garden this year and finding recipes to use it in has been fun!
I found a recipe at this website describing exactly what I wanted to do!
The smooth flavor of the cream cheese and the smoky taste of the pumpkin combine together to really bring home a taste of fall flavors in your mouth.
be sure and visit the link above to view the original recipe.
Ingredients
- Crust
- 5 graham cracker sheets
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Cheesecake Mixture
- 2 blocks of cream cheese
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Pumpkin Mixture
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 Tablespoons + 1/4 teaspoon all purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Set aside
- In a food processor, grind up the graham cracker sheets into fine crumbs.
- Place the graham cracker crumbs in a bowl. Add in the ground cinnamon and sugar.
- Melt the butter and add it to the graham cracker crumbs.
- Put a small scoop of the graham cracker crumb mixture in the bottom of each cupcake liner. Press down the crumbs with your hand. Set aside.
- Mix the cream cheese together until all the lumps have disappeared.
- Add in the sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and slowly add them to the cream cheese mixture. Add in the sour cream and mix until the cheesecake mixture is smooth.
- To make the pumpkin mixture, combine the pumpkin puree, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg and flour.
- Add 2/3 cup of the cheesecake mixture to the pumpkin mixture. Stir with a spatula until the two batters are completely combined and there are no lumps.
- Fill each cupcake liner with enough batter to almost fill the top. Leave room for the pumpkin mixture.
- Place a small amount of the pumpkin mixture on top of the cheesecake mixture. Use a toothpick to swirl the two batters.
- Bake the Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecakes for about 27-30 minutes at 300 degrees F.
- Once the cheesecake are done baking, cool them completely in the refrigerator overnight.
When Kayla and I fixed the puff pastry burgers that you read about yesterday, we had a little puff dough left over so Kayla decided to cook it.
It was one single square and it puffed up nice and beautiful. After it came out of the oven, she melted some chocolate to drizzle over it and put some strawberry preserves on it. It was out of this world delicious!
It made me want to make some desserts using Puff pastry.
Do you have any special recipes using this item? I would love to hear about them!
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Kayla and I started making these years ago after we visited the apple orchard one time. I think she was in Kindergarten. We had purchased one to share and immediately fell in love with the taste and texture of a fried apple pie.
I looked around and found several recipes, tried them out, and then used those to create my own version. We love these any time of the year and they are super quick to make up!
Fried Apple Pies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 2 apples
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup vegetable oil
Directions
- Peel and dice apples. Add sugar and cinnamon. Cook in a saucepan on low heat. Cook until soft, then mash with fork to form a thick applesauce.
- Sift flour and salt together. Cut in the shortening. Add water and mix with fork.
- Roll out to about 1/8 inch thick on a floured board. Cut with a large cookie cutter (4 inches in diameter).
- In each round, place 1 heaping tablespoon fruit. Moisten edges with cold water, fold and press edge with a fork.
- Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Fry pies, a few at a time, 2 to 3 minutes on each side; cook until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar.
This recipe is linked to the Ultimate Recipe Swap.
As promised, here is my little tutorial on homemade fondant!
Here is what you need to start with:
- 1 bag of mini marshmallows
- 3 tablespoons of water
- 2 lbs of powdered sugar
- oil for oiling things up
The first thing you need to do is grease a large glass bowl with oil. Don’t overdo it, just enough to lightly grease the inside.
Add the marshmallows and water into the bowl. Microwave on high at 20 second intervals, stirring after each one until marshmallows are all melted.
Pour all of the powdered sugar into the bowl (reserve 1/4 cup for later). Mix together until you get something that looks like this:

Now that you have this little ball of fun, take some of the reserved powdered sugar and sugar up your workspace. Knead and knead and knead until it becomes a VERY smooth and pliable ball (it took me and Kayla about 15-20 minutes).
Once you get the ball all kneaded and smooth, like I said, it takes a while. . . .kneading, kneading, kneading. . . . . .
You can divide it into how many colors you want. We were doing two–purple and white. So here is the low down on how to color this fondant:

You have to use CAKE DECORATING GEL (not food coloring). If you do not use the right thing, it will not turn out. Put some of the gel on a toothpick and insert the colors into the fondant. Now the fun part happens. You get to knead AGAIN–but this time you are working the colors into the fondant. It takes a little patience for this part.
If you want to keep your hands from getting the gel stained on them, use gloves!
After you get done coloring the fondant, grease it up and then wrap it in plastic wrap and set it on the counter overnight.

The next day, you get to roll the fondant out. At first touch it will feel really rock hard. Remove the fondant from the wrap. Put down a piece of wax paper as big as you are going to roll your fondant. Get your rolling pin and start rolling (apply pressure).

You will have to roll and roll and roll and roll until you get it to about an 1/8″ thick. You should not have any problem with it sticking, but if you do, simply oil the surface and then roll it out.
When you are done rolling it out, you are now ready to put it on your cake. Before you do though, you need to put a very thin layer of icing on your cake so that the fondant will stick to it.
Now, very gently apply your fondant to the cake. It should be lain over as gently as possible (this is where the wax paper comes in handy).
Cut away any excess and start shaping around your cake. Use oil and your fingers and palms to smooth away any wrinkles that might appear.

Once you get done cutting away the excess and getting the icing even with the cake, it should look something like this:

Now you can have fun decorating it all up for who ever. Enjoy!





Hi! I am Jen--a wife to the most amazing man ever and a homeschool mom to one teenager. I just graduated my oldest.
I have been blogging since 2007. I love to watch movies, spend time in the kitchen, crochet, dance, drink coffee, and lay on the beach. Between recipes, reviews, and hilarious life story moments you'll find many helpful posts on this blog. Welcome, pull up a chair and stay for a while!




