Spiced Cheesecake

I told the doctor I was making keto cheesecakes, and she was ok with that.  Ok, then here's another one.

I considered making a pumpkin cheesecake, then decided to just use the spices.  What people don't realize when they get something "pumpkin spice" is that there isn't necessarily any pumpkin in it, just the spices you would use when making a pumpkin pie.  It isn't false advertising.  There's a specific spice blend called "pumpkin pie spice".

I opted here to use a pretty decent amount of those spices, plus some cardamom, to make a vaguely pumpkin/chai flavored cheesecake.  With a cinnamon and nut crust and a maple yogurt topping, this came together about as fast as my other cheesecakes.

Crust

1-1/2 C nuts (walnuts or pecans work best)
3 Tb sugar (or substitute)
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tb butter, melted

1.  Put nuts, sugar, and cinnamon in the food processor and run until grainy.

2.  Add melted butter and pulse into a paste.

3.  Press into the bottom and sides of a 9" springform. (I'm doing my usual 1/3 recipe in a 6")

Filling

3 8oz bricks cream cheese (light ok), room temperature
6 eggs, room temperature
2-1/4 C plain yogurt (nonfat ok)
1-3/4 C sugar (or substitute)
2 Tb cornstarch
*3 Tb pumpkin pie spice (or combined cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves to make 3 Tb)
*1 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp vanilla

1.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Surround bottom of springform with foil, and place in a slightly larger pan.

2.  Place all ingredients in blender or food processor.  Run until smooth.  Spices take a while to distribute evenly, and won't dissolve as much as you expect.  Pour into prepared springform.

3.  Place springform with its larger pan in the oven.  Pour water into the surrounding pan, up about 1" on the cake pan.  Bake until center is just set, but still moves a little, about 1 hour to 80 minutes.

4.  Turn off oven and leave the cake inside for another hour.  Then open the oven door and allow the cake to slowly cool to a warm room temperature, another hour.  This process will minimize how much it collapses.

5.  Place cooled cake in the refrigerator until chilled, about 4 hours.  Before serving, run a knife or spatula around the rim before releasing the spring.  Carefully transfer cake to serving platter.  One of these days, I'll do it without cracking the cake.  I ended up keeping the wax paper I had tried using on the bottom.

Topping

1 C plain yogurt
2 Tb maple syrup

1.  Stir together yogurt and syrup.

2.  Spread on top of cake.  Decorate with more spices if desired.

Makes one 9" cheesecake, 12-16 servings

Difficulty rating  :)