Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake

Today I was inspired by Thomas’ “sinful” mocha mousse cheesecake based on Mrs. Fields Cookie book that he recently posted on the Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Experience and I had fond memories of a pre-GFCF recipe for a chocolate-pumpkin-marbled cheesecake. It was a rainy day, the Prince was sick and napping a lot, I had some canned pumpkin, so I decided to experiment!

I used coconut milk as replacement for evaporated milk as I did for the pumpkin pie recipe I recently posted and the resulting cheesecake is really pretty and though milder in taste than a traditional cheesecake, it’s still pretty darn good, if I say so myself. The pumpkin and the chocolate seem to mask the “non-dairyish” aftertaste of the Toffuti cream cheese (much as I appreciate it, it is not the same to my taste buds, but in this recipe, I could not tell.) The Professor, a bonafide cheesecake lover, really enjoyed it too.

This is not an every day kind of recipe, more for a special occasion. It is a bit time-intensive, kind of high in calories, but certainly tasty! More for adults, than kids, I think. Though the Prince loved the smell of it cooking and did take a bite. (But then, he’s a little sick today.)

So here’s the recipe, if I remember everything I did!

GFCF Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:
2 cups crushed GFCF cookies of your choice
2 TB butter substitute, melted
½ pkg. GFCF chocolate chips

Cheesecake:
½ pkg. GFCF chocolate chips
3 (8 oz) pkg. Tofutti “better than cream cheese” softened
1 cup sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
¾ cup coconut milk
4 eggs
1 (16 oz) can pumpkin puree
¾ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Crust: Grease 10 in. spring form pan. Preheat oven to 325. Combine cookie crumbs and melted butter in food processor. Press into bottom only of spring form pan. Top with ½ pkg. chocolate chips. Set aside.

Cheescake filling: Melt remaining chocolate chips until smooth. Set aside. In large bowl, beat Tofutti cream cheese, sugar, brown sugar until smooth. Beat in pumpkin. Beat in eggs and coconut milk until blended. Mix in by hand cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg. Then beat with mixer until blended.

Stir 1 cup of pumpkin/Tofutti mixture into melted GFCF chocolate chips. Mix well, set aside.

Pour remaining pumpkin mixture into spring form pan on top of chocolate chips. Spoon chocolate mixture on top of cheesecake mixture in small mounds. Swirl with a knife. Place spring form pan on a baking sheet.

Bake at 325 for 60 minutes or until filling is set (center may still jiggle a little). Turn off oven, but let cheesecake stand in oven with door open a crack for about an hour. Cool at room temperature for another hour then refrigerate.

Makes one TALL, HUGE, cheesecake. (Small slices necessary!)