One of the most hallowed traditions during any fall festival is pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, no one in my family is very fond of this dessert. They all love pumpkins, but the thought of eating pumpkin for dessert churns their stomach!!!! After many unsuccessful attempts to make them eat the pies I religiously baked every Thanksgiving, I hit upon the idea of a pumpkin pie masquerading as a cheesecake!! This is a modified version of the Libby’s famous pumpkin pie. I follow the recipe for making the pumpkin pie then add my own recipe for Indian cheese cake or Kalakand on the top. The original version is on most Libby’s pumpkin cans. You can also get it online at http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/libbys-famous-pumpkin-pie/Detail.aspx
My version of this pie which I call pumpkin cheese pie has a layer of ricotta cheese above the pumpkin layer. The top layer is similar to Kalakand a famous Indian dessert made using cottage cheese. Ricotta cheese works very well for this recipe substituting cottage cheese. It saves on time and effort. So this dessert is actually a two layer pie: kalakand on top and pumpkin pie in the bottom. Here is the recipe for pumpkin cheese pie.
Pumpkin cheese pie
Ingredients
1 can of pumpkin (15 oz, Libby’s or any other brand)
1 unbaked pie shell (9”)
1 can of Nestle carnation evaporated milk (12oz)
2 eggs
32 oz container of whole milk ricotta cheese
1 ½ cup white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
½ cup pistachios (broken)
Method
Heat oven to 425 degrees F. In a bowl, mix together pumpkin, ¾ cup sugar, and ground cinnamon. Beat eggs in a bowl. Pour into the pumpkin mix. Add evaporated milk into the mixture. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the pie shell. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. While the first layer is baking, mix the ricotta cheese with the remaining sugar (3/4 cup), ground cardamom and pistachios. Now take out the semi-baked pie from the oven. Evenly spread the ricotta cheese mixture over the pumpkin layer. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake pie for 40-50 minutes untill knife inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top cheese layer is all set and has little brown flecks. If the cheese layer is still wet, switch off the oven and let the pie remain in the heat for an additional 10 minutes. Cool the finished pie for 2 hours and refrigerate before serving.
Comments