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| Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Ice Cream |
More precisely, a local dairy gifted me with six tubs of the stuff (but no other compensation). I'm not mentioning brands here, but I will say I was motivated to develop some recipes, the result of which are posted below. Use lactose-free cream cheese and the non-dairy margarine if you have lactose issues. The recipes are tested and work with those products. If lactose toleration is not an issue for you, use regular soft (not whipped or brick style cream cheese) and pile on the whipped cream. Most commercial caramel sauces do contain some dairy, so you may also need to seek out a non-dairy caramel sauce for the flan or make your own based just on sugar and water.
Try one of both of these as an ending to your fall (and even Thanksgiving) dinner.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream
Makes about 1 Quart
This frozen dessert has the flavor of pumpkin pie with the added tang of cream cheese. Not too sweet, it is rich and satisfying.
No pumpkin pie spice in the house? May your own. Combine four parts ground cinnamon, two parts ground ginger, one part ground nutmeg and one part ground allspice. Add a dash of ground clove if you'd like.
2-8 oz. tubs soft cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1-15 oz, can of plain pureed pumpkin
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
Pour cream cheese in a large bowl. Stir until smooth. Mix in vanilla, sugar, pumpkin and spice. Stir until very smooth and well combined. Cover and chill. Process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer instructions. Eat immediately or store in airtight container in freezer. Take out of freezer about 20 minutes before serving. Scoop into serving dishes. If desired top with caramel syrup, whipped cream and chopped pecans or walnuts.
Apple Caramel Cheese Flan
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| Slice of flan with extra caramel sauce |
Serves 8
This flan variation combines sweet, buttery, crisp and tangy for a refreshing dessert. If you use the sugar and water homemade caramel option (see above), you won't need extra to drizzle at the end. Double the apple and butter if desired to use extra as a topping.
About 6 Tbs. caramel sauce, plus extra for drizzling
2 Tbs. butter or margarine
1 large Granny Smith apple, cored (peeling optional) and diced
1-8 oz. tub soft cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup sugar
8 ox. apple juice
4 eggs, beaten
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat bottom of 9-10" cake pan with about 6 Tbs. of caramel sauce (heating sauce slightly if it is not easy to spread).
Melt butter in large skillet, saute apple pieces until softened. Scatter apple pieces on top of caramel sauce in cake pan. (Apple pieces will distribute through flan as it cooks.)
In a large bowl, stir cream cheese until smooth. Stir in vanilla, sugar and juice, mixing until smooth and well combined. Stir in eggs, again mixing until smooth. Pour over apples in prepared pan.
Plan cake pan inside a large, rimmed baking pan. Boil water and pour hot water inside the larger pan until it comes up about halfway to the outside of cake pan with the flan (do not pour water into cake pan). You are making a ban marie to help the flan bake evenly and without cracks.
Bake about 45-60 minutes until the flan is somewhat set (it will still be somewhat jiggly) and lightly browned. Carefully remove cake pan from the hot water, cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
When ready to serve, run a thin knife around the outside of the flan to loosened it from the pan. Dip bottom of pan briefly in a basin or bowl of hot water. Quickly invert cake pan over serving platter. If flan does not release from pan. Turn over and dip pan back in hot water and try again. (Usually flan releases just fine the first time.) Or slice and serve from pan. Drizzle with extra caramel sauce as desired.
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