Get your cheesecake out of my pumpkin pie! Get your pumpkin pie out of my cheesecake!
Guess what, kids? We’ve got all the vibes for Thanksgiving and the holiday season in one grain free dessert. This is the most velvety blend of a cheesecake mixed with the creaminess and subtle spice of pumpkin pie, using a grain free crust. All made with the least sweetness possible to make the recipe work.
For those of you new to this site or the Eat Happy cookbooks, here’s an explanation of why I identify as low carb/NSNG but still make sweet treats for special occasions with real sugar and not artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes. You are welcome to use whatever you darn well please to sweeten this cheesecake.
I highly recommend using a 9″ springform pan. If you choose not to make the crust, make sure you grease the springform pan with coconut oil spray or butter. If you like a sweeter crust, then you can add another teaspoon of sugar. Unlike baking with regular grains, you will not have to roll out the crust dough. You can press it with your hands into the springform pan.
The water bath step to bake the cheesecake helps it cook nicely, so make sure you have your roasting pan and aluminum foil ready. The foil is just in case you think your springform pan might have a leak in it. I found that out the hard way about a year ago and replaced my springform pan with this one.
Enjoy!
XOXO
Anna
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Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups almond flour, preferably fine ground
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar, or sweetener of your choice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 stick salted butter, melted (8 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- Coconut oil spray or butter for greasing pan
Filling Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 8-ounce packs full fat cream cheese, brought to room temperature
- 1/2 cup full fat plain Greek yogurt, or you can use sour cream or crème fraîche
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar, or sweetener of your choice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 tablespoon arrowroot powder
- 1 cup heavy cream, whipped for serving
Instructions
Crust Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together almond flour, coconut sugar, and cinnamon. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Add in egg, and mix thoroughly into a dough. Spray a 9” springform pan with coconut oil spray or grease with extra butter.
- Press the dough ball into the springform pan, pressing dough up the sides of the pan until the crust is about 1/4” thick overall. This will take a few minutes.
- Bake in oven 15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and fragrant, being careful not to burn. Remove from oven and let cool thoroughly before making and baking cheesecake filling.
Filling Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer, thoroughly mix cream cheese, yogurt, pumpkin purée, vanilla, coconut sugar, and maple syrup. Mix in eggs well. Sprinkle arrowroot powder slowly over the bowl while mixing it in, being careful not to let it clump. Add in spice mix and mix thoroughly. Scrape down sides of bowl with a spatula and make sure batter is fully mixed once more.
- Prepare a water bath: fill a roasting pan with 1-2” of warm tap water. Place springform pan in a piece of foil large enough to go up the sides of the pan. Place pan into the water bath. Pour cheesecake batter into cooled crust in the springform pan. Carefully place roasting pan with springform pan into the oven and bake 60-75 minutes, or until the center is cooked through and when you shake it, has movement but doesn’t jiggle. The cheesecake will rise up a bit when coming out of the oven, resembling a soufflé, but then it will fall as you chill it.
- Remove springform pan from the foil wrapping. Let cool on counter for 1 hour. Place in fridge and let chill at least 4 hours before serving. Remove from fridge. Slice and serve with freshly whipped cream.
I am SO making/baking THIS for Thanksgiving. THANKS to Y*O*U Anna for giving us the “joy of cooking” esp. in THIS bat-crap cuh-RAZY year🤗
I can’t wait to make this!! Does it use a 15 oz or 29 oz can of pumpkin?
Use 1 cup
Thank you Anna! Can’t wait to make this. I’m wondering if the arrowroot powder is mandatory? Is there a substitute? Don’t have any in stock.
you could use xanthan gum if you have that on hand. Or you could omit altogether, and I’m sure it would still set up nicely b/c of the eggs!
XOXO
Anna
I have a store-bought pecan crust and I’m wondering if popping this filling in would work?
absolutely! Use whatever crust you want. If you have too much filling, you can use it for muffins, etc.
xoxo
Anna
Hi Anna, if you use the pumpkin pie spice instead of Individual spices, how much would you estimate that we would use?
I don’t know the proportions each spice company uses, so I would add a tablespoon, taste the batter, and then add more to taste.
XOXO
Anna
It seems to me that 2 Tablespoons of Ground Cinnamon for 1 cup of pumpkin is excessive
I assure you, it is not. The flavor profile and balance of pumpkin spice is perfection.
XO
Anna
We definitely are making this. One question though. Vinnie is always saying sugar is sugar is sugar. If so, why is coconut sugar called for over plain old granulated sugar or honey?We already have some sugar for making our hummingbirds obese, but do not yet have the coconut sugar.
Sugar is sugar is sugar, which is why I say in this recipe, it doesn’t matter which sugar you use. You can use whatever is on hand, or whatever flavor profile you prefer. I’m speaking only of natural sugar. I don’t know how to substitute artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes as I don’t work with those products so I’m not familiar.
XO
Anna
Thank You for the response in the middle of your move. We love your books. Many post-its on on all the tried and repeated recipes.
I have made this twice. One crustless and one with crust. Both versions were absolutely delicious!
SO YUMMY! Loved his cheesecake; it was the perfect way to celebrate getting my taste buds back post covid. I served our first servings for breakfast and the kids loved it too – thought it was so cool that they ate cheesecake for breakfast!
I used to make Martha’s for the holidays and I think this definitely is just as good.
Side note: I used regular white sugar.
This was amazing! User error made me doubt it would come out but it was a success!
OMGOSH!! This was so much fun to make and it is delicious!! I only hope there will be enough left for Thanksgiving dessert!! This is going to be my annual Thanksgiving dessert now!!(and probably a few other special occasions in-between!)
This recipe was fantastic! Everyone who had a sample loved it. It was just the right amount of rich and sweet and was very satisfying! I will absolutely make this again.
Made it. Quickly ate it. Making one again right now.
Go crustless or a make a pecan crust.
pecan crust!!!! Doing this this year!
Absolutely the very best! My husband and I both loved it!
Not a baker so was nervous to make this but it turned out FANTASTIC!!!
My wife made this for Thanksgiving. It was awesome! I just wish it was all mine!
My family loved this pumpkin cheesecake! My fifteen year old actually said, “I can’t believe this is healthy. It tastes amazing!” It is a much healthier version than the recipe I used many years ago with over 2 cups of sugar. Anna’s recipe uses a balance of the right amount of spices to heighten the pumpkin flavor without needing a ton of sugar to make it feel like a guilty pleasure. It’s creamy and delicious. My husband’s family didn’t even realize it was gluten free and low carb. Everyone loved it.
My favorite part is I can always trust Anna to give an alternative recipe to an original high carb, high sugar, without artificial sweeteners. When I google a recipe and add the words low carb or keto, they often have artificial sweeteners which are just as bad as having real sugar. I can always trust Anna will never use monk fruit, swerve or other fake garbage to sweeten a recipe. She’s always doing what is the healthiest option for those who follow a low carb lifestyle!
Cheesecake and pumpkin pie are by far my most fav treat during the holidays. I made this for myself and mother in law and was not expecting to share because there were 3 other pies for our husbands who hassle us about NSNG. Well guess what? All the non-NSNGers ate my pumpkin cheesecakes and the 2 regular pumpkin pies were left, HA! Well, I ended up only having 2 slices and will be make 3 of them for Christmas so I do not have to share. Go get your own! Anna this is the most amazing thing! I am never sad when you share all your hard work! This is the first Thanksgiving I lost 2 pounds! I made this cheesecake, the green beans wild mushrooms, stuffing, and candied yams. ALL NSNG and all were demolished! People really have no idea what they are missing out on. Again thank you for all your hard work and dedication to the FOOD we LOVE! All my holiday meals are never going to miss the basics. I am not missing out on anything with this recipe but that goes for all your killer recipes.
guess what? I am responding to my own comment. I STILL SAND by it! I am making it again this year. I meet Anna this year and she is better in person just like her recipes! Make all of this and no one would know they are truly feeding their soul.
The pumpkin cheesecake was AMAZING! The recipe was easy to follow (I’m not much of a baker) and the final product was wonderful! A thanksgiving hit!
I love this cheesecake recipe!!!.I’ve made it multiple times and never get tired of it. I even made multiple options for my birthday. It was gone by the third night. The cheesecake baker in town thought it would be a disaster when I told her I was planning on making one from scratch. This cheesecake is always a big hit in the family everyone loves it.
Thanks anna!!
Can’t wait to try this, Can I do it in cupcake forms? Just helpful for portion control?
But of course! Just keep an eye on the cook time b/c it will be less than the whole cheesecake all at once.
XOXO
Anna
Awesome!!! Tried it with and without crust!!! Thank you Anna for this fabulous dessert!!!
I’m making it for Thanksgiving–it’s been a couple of years, so I’m excited to have it again. Glad you love it, too!
XOXO
Anna