Pumpkin Love - What to do with a Butternut

Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Cheesecake Tart
Home Cooking



I started off making a pumpkin pie but even though I divided the original recipe by 3, I still had too much filling and short-crust pastry for my pie tin (I must have the world's tiniest pie tin).

The problem was solved by using the rest of the ingredients to make a pumpkin cheesecake in a tart case. This is a case of 1 recipe, 2 ways. It's pretty much the same ingredients and same quantities for both products (with the addition of cream cheese for the cheesecake) and all goes to show how versatile cooking is.



Don't worry, the way I typed out the recipes doesn't assume you're going to make both on the same day like I did. I worked out how much of all the ingredients you'll need to make a mini pumpkin pie and a mini cheesecake.

Mini pumpkin cheesecake with chocolate sauce

I happened to have shortcrust pastry dough at home (as you would) so I didn't make that from scratch. Consequently, I can't really give you accurate measurements for that.

My pie tin is 11cm diameter across the top (not including lip) and 7.5cm diameter across the bottom. My cheesecake springform tin is a cutey - it's 10cm in diameter.

Mini Pumpkin Pie
Makes 1 (tin dimensions given above)

Ingredients:

• 200g prepared shortcrust pastry dough
• 1 Gingernut biscuit
• 1 level tbsp crushed, toasted pecans
• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree (I used a butternut pumpkin; you just cut the portion that you need and microwave it skin up on a plate for 3-4min. Scoop out the flesh once it's cooled
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• <2 brown="brown" li="li" sugar="sugar" tbsp="tbsp">
• 1/2 egg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• small pinch of ground nutmeg
• small pinch of ground ginger

Procedure:

1. Roll out the shortcrust pastry between two sheets of cling wrap until it's as thin as it can be without being translucent (about 3-4mm thick).
2. Gently place the dough over the pie tin and let it drop in. You can use a ball of extra dough to press the sheet of shortcrust into the edges but be very very gentle. If you get a tear, just use some excess dough and pat it in to fill the hole. When you're done, use a fork to decorate the lip of the pastry and remove excess. Place in the fridge for 20min.
3. In the meantime, use a food processor or mortar and pestle to grind up the Gingernut biscuit and pecans to a coarse powder.4. Prepare the filling by combining the pumpkin puree, cream, sugar, egg and spices either by hand or in a food processor.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. When the pastry in the pie tin is cooled, take it out of the fridge. Press the biscuit/pecan powder into the base and sides of the pie casing. Not only does this give extra flavor and texture to the pie, it also helps prevent the case from getting soggy when you bake it.6. Pour the filling into the pie case. Pop it on a tray and into the oven (choose one of the racks in the lower 1/3 of the oven). Bake for 25-30min until the center is no longer wobbly and the case is golden brown.
7. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool completely. If you try to move it from the pie tin before it's cooled, the crust might shatter or crumble.8. Serve warm (just reheat in microwave) with maple syrup and cream or cold (pop it in the fridge) with some vanilla ice-cream.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake Tart
Makes 1 (tin dimensions given above)

Ingredients:

• 200g prepared shortcrust pastry dough
• 1 Gingernut biscuit
• 1 level tbsp crushed, toasted pecans
• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree (I used a butternut pumpkin; you just cut the portion that you need and microwave it skin up on a plate for 3-4min. Scoop out the flesh once it's cooled)
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 egg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• small pinch of ground nutmeg
• small pinch of ground ginger
• 50g cream cheese (I use Philadelphia extra light)

Optional dark chocolate ganache topping

• 40g dark chocolate, chopped
• 20ml heavy cream

Procedure:

1. Roll out the shortcrust pastry dough as above and this time, place it gently into the springform tin. Push it so that it lines the sides. I couldn't think of a good way to do this so I just used my fingers and mended tears with spare dough as I went along. Place in fridge for 20min.
2. Crush together the biscuit and pecan nuts as above. Use it to line the base and sides of the tart case in the springform pan.3. Make the filling by putting the remaining ingredients in a food processor. Blitz till it forms an even mixture. Pour this into the tart case.
4. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 25-30min until the surface of the cheesecake is set.5. Cool the tart on a rack to room temperature. Remove from the springform tin and let the cheesecake set in the fridge for an extra 1-2hrs.
6. To serve, return the cheesecake to room temperature for a while and have some chocolate sauce handy.7. I actually made up a quick dark chocolate ganache (1:2 ratio of heavy cream:dark chocolate, microwaved and stirred to combine) and layered it over the top of the cheesecake. This was placed in the fridge to set before slicing.

Finished slice

I've never made a pie or tart before and completely under-estimated how difficult it would be to handle shortcrust dough. For me, the hardest part was definitely trying to press the dough into the tin without tears. As the photos reveal, I didn't do a very good job and left finger prints all along the inside.

The rest of the recipe was easy as... (I can't resist) pie! Mostly, all you have to do is press the button on your food processor.

Close-up of cheesecake cross section

I thought the results were delicious. I haven't tried pumpkin pie before so I don't know how close I am but it was smooth and creamy and the had just the right amount of spiciness. I liked the cheesecake even more though - just a personal preference. It was especially good with the dark chocolate ganache.