Pumpkin…good. Cheesecake…great. Pumpkin Cheesecake…fantastic!
I was thinking about baking something delicious recently, that I hadn’t seen done on the interwebs, and struck up the idea for Dairy-Free Pumpkin Cheesecake. Ya’ll know I love me some pumpkin since I have done several posts on them (see here, here, & here), so it was only fitting to come up with an adapted recipe for those trying to do dairy-free. To be 100% transparent, I’m not completely dairy-free all the time, though I wish I had better willpower to do so. Remaining gluten-free 100% is no question…but the dairy still calls me back from time to time.
I decided to search for a regular pumpkin cheesecake recipe thinking I could easily swap out for dairy-free replacements. Go figure, the search revealed a recipe from the famous butter queen, Paula Deen. It was pretty easy knowing I would be using my favorite, legit dairy-free cream cheese: Kite Hill Cream Cheese (found at Whole Foods). If you haven’t explored the amazingness of Kite Hill Cream Cheese, you need do so STAT and watch a whole new world open up to you!
The tricky part would be the sour cream. No one has come up with a replica that I could buy, so I decided to make it myself. I have made sour cream recipes from Fed & Fit’s new cookbook, Against All Grain’s cookbook, and some I found randomly on the web. I will suggest the one I used, but am now thinking you could probably just use plain dairy-free yogurt from either Kite Hill or So Delicious (both are carrageenan-free).
Do yourself a favor and whip this up for the upcoming holidays–you will not be disappointed! I’m so glad that I finally have a dairy-free recipe to make that takes be back to my childhood.
PS: This crust is our go-to for all things pie, etc. Just leave out the cinnamon to make it a plain one.
Pumpkin Cheesecake {Dairy-free, Paleo}
Adapted from Paula Deen
Nut Crust:
To make this crust in a food processor, combine nut halves or pieces with the butter, sugar, and salt and pulse until the nuts are finely chopped.
- 2 cups crushed walnuts, pecans, etc. OR ALL almond flour
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes, Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- Grease a 9 or 10 inch pie pan or an 8 to 10 inch spring-form pan.
- Add chopped nuts or almond flour to bowl. Pour in remaining ingredients and mix with a fork until combined.
- Using your fingertips or the flat bottom of a drinking glass, press the mixture evenly over the bottom and sides of a pie pan or over the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a spring-form pan.
- Bake until the crust is richly browned, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Check periodically during baking; if the crust has slipped down the sides of the pan, smooth it into place with the back of a spoon.
- Let cool before filling.
Filling:
- 2 (8-ounce) packages Kite Hill cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ can (15-ounce) canned pumpkin
- 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
- ¼ cup homemade sour cream or plain dairy-free yogurt
- ¾ – 1 cup maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Prep Time: 15-30 minutes, Cook Time: 1 Hour, Serves: 8
- Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.
- Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place in oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes.
Notes: You can serve this with some coconut whipped cream by combining Coconut Cream (from coconut milk hardened in the fridge) and Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk.
