Try this classic Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese softened
- 2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
- 5 cups frozen whipped topping thawed
- 3 cups pumpkin puree
- 4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
- Carbohydrate 67.2877614356917 g
- Cholesterol 34.0833333615145 mg
- Fat 25.5606726819635 g
- Fiber 6.01194682077203 g
- Protein 4.75608866965117 g
- Saturated Fat 12.8866946737874 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (173g)
- Sodium 441.701600346905 mg
- Sugar 61.2758146149196 g
- Trans Fat 1.61129606768811 g
- Calories 506 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, butter or margarine, and 1 cup chopped pecans. Beat until thoroughly combined. Press mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
- Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- In a medium mixing bowl combine cream cheese, 2 cups of the whipped topping, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. Spread evenly over cooled crust.
- In a large mixing bowl combine pudding, milk, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and 2 more cups of whipped topping. Stir until thoroughly combined. Spoon mixture over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining 1 cup of whipped topping. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup chopped pecans if desired. Chill at least 1 hour before serving.
Allow the baked pecan and flour crust to cool completely to room temperature before applying the cream cheese layer, otherwise residual heat will melt the dairy fats and compromise the structural integrity of the base. Pressing the flour, butter, and chopped pecan mixture firmly into the 9x13-inch baking dish ensures a compact crust that resists crumbling when sliced into fifteen distinct portions. Cream cheese must be fully softened to room temperature prior to mixing with the confectioners sugar and vanilla extract; beating cold blocks of cheese invariably leaves stubborn lumps that disrupt the smooth mouthfeel of the second tier. When incorporating the instant vanilla pudding mix with the milk, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice, whisk until the starch hydrates fully before folding in the thawed frozen whipped topping gently to maintain maximum aeration throughout the orange filling.
Starch-thickened puddings and dairy-heavy layers tolerate refrigeration exceptionally well for up to forty-eight hours, making this multi-tier composition an ideal candidate for advance preparation without structural degradation. Chilling the assembled dessert for at least one hour allows the starches in the pudding mix and the fats in the cream cheese to firm up, yielding clean cuts between servings. Altering the dairy components by substituting margarine for butter changes the melting point and reduces the richness of the crust, while using low-fat cream cheese introduces excess water content that will eventually weep into the layers above during storage. Maintaining the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for the initial fifteen-minute bake provides just enough thermal energy to set the raw flour without burning the pecans.
