Pumpkin Swirl "Cheese"cake

As I've mentioned before, we are experimenting with some of our favorite holiday recipes, so that when the holidays come, we will be prepared. For those of you who may not already know, Jason is really good in the kitchen. He loves to cook and bake. This ability is very much appreciated, especially when I'm unable to fix a meal. He steps right in and does a great job. =)

One of his favorite things to make is cheesecake. In fact he makes several cheesecakes over the holiday season, so you can imagine our disappointment when we decided to go dairy-free. While we were shopping one day, we came across some soy cream cheese in little tubs just like the spreadable (regular) cream cheese containers. We bought some and began our experiment.

Last year, our favorite cheesecake recipe was a pumpkin swirl cheesecake. (Side note: We later discovered that a spoonful of cranberry relish on top of each slice was really good. The tartness of the cranberries played off of the sweetness of the cheesecake.) Since we are new to using soy products in the place of dairy products, we really weren't sure how it would turn out or if we would even like it. To tell you the truth, I was kind of scared of it. =) To our great delight, though, it was absolutely delicious, and we couldn't tell the difference. In fact, we actually liked the crust better since we used coconut oil in place of butter. The coconut oil really crisps up the ginger snap/pecan crust...yuuuummmmmy!!

My camera did not come out fast enough to get a picture of the cake as a whole...I almost lost an arm trying to get this picture! =)


You have got to try this! It's amazing! We will not be suffering this holiday season...that's for sure. =)


Here's the recipe...

25 Ginger Snaps, finely crushed (We used Mi-Del brand that is only sweetened with dehydrated cane juice.)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
4 (8 ounce) packages Toffuti brand soy cream cheese, softened
1 cup evaporated cane juice (ECJ), divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of ground cloves

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix ginger snap crumbs, pecans and coconut oil; press firmly onto bottom and 1 inch up side of 9-inch springform pan.

Beat (soy) cream cheese, 3/4 cup of ECJ and the vanilla with electric mixer (KitchenAid works fine) until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Remove 1-1/2 cups of the batter; place in small bowl. Stir remaining 1/4 cup ECJ, the pumpkin and spices into remaining batter. Spoon half of the pumpkin batter into crust; top with spoonfuls of half of the reserved plain batter. Repeat layers. Cut through batters with knife several times for marble effect.

Bake 55 minutes or until center is almost set. (Ours took an extra 20 minutes.) Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.