Gluten Free Pumpkin, Caramel and Pecan Cheesecake

I love this time of year. Our family is gearing up for a huge Texas Thanksgiving feast!    Bekah will be coming home from college for a few days where she will join her siblings and other family members  down at my brother and sister-in-laws farm in Hallettsville.  It is great family time.  We will ride motorcycles, hike, fish and do a lot of skeet shooting.  On Thanksgiving day we will gather under the pecan trees enjoying fried Turkey and old family recipes served on heritage china, picnic style.  It doesn’t get much better then that!

I love to make our traditional family dishes and desserts for my loved ones and friends.  I only make some recipes just during the holiday season.  I have learned however, that you can begin a new tradition at any time.  So here is our new family recipe tradition – Pumpkin, Caramel & Pecan Cheesecake.  It has a light pumpkin flavor, drizzled with warm caramel and chopped pecans.  So good.

If you enjoy a more traditional cheesecake recipe you gotta try our recipe.  The crust is made from GF baking mix, pecans and brown sugar.  The cheesecake itself is so smooth and creamy and it is topped with a thin layer of sour cream and lemon topping.  It is out of this world!  My son-in-law loves it so much he had it as his grooms cake at he and my daughters wedding.

I need to give credit to the Food Network Magazine who has this recipe in their November edition.

Rachel and I would like to wish everyone a blessed and delicious holiday season!

Gluten Free Pumpkin, Caramel & Pecan Cheesecake

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Ingredients

Crust

• 1/2 cup Pecans (Chopped and divided)
• 1 Package Mi-Del GF Ginger Snaps
• 1/4 cup Butter (Melted)

Cheesecake

• 4 Packages Cream Cheese (Softened)
• 1 can Pumpkin (15 oz.)
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Tbs. Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla
• 4 Eggs

Topping

• 25 Caramels
• 1/4 cup Milk

Directions

Step 1

Heat oven to 325 degrees

Crust

Step 2

Chop 1/4 cup nuts and put into a medium bowl. Add all the ginger snaps, crumbled (less a couple, a had to taste test them) and melted butter; mix well. Press into the bottom of 13x9-inch pan.

Cheesecake

Step 3

Beat softened cream cheese with sugar in a mixing bowl until blended. Add pumpkin, spice and vanilla, mixing well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each, just until blended. Pour over crust.

Step 4

Bake for 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool completely then refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Topping

Step 5

When you are ready to eat the cheesecake, microwave caramels and milk on High for 1 1/2 minutes or until caramels are completely melted, stirring every 30 seconds; Let cool slightly then drizzle over individual slices of cheesecake then sprinkle with remaining nuts.