We enjoyed the warm and beautiful weather here in Toronto for the 2017 Thanksgiving weekend. Like the weather channel announced a June-like weekend in October, the temperatures reached 24 Celsius in the afternoon, and it felt like Spring was around the corner, instead of the cold and rainy Fall that will soon be upon us. But the Auburn colours outside and the stores full of all kinds of pumpkin helped me come back to reality, so to speak.

When I asked my peeps what dessert they’d prefer, I was given two choices: Creamcheese cake was my daughter’s preference and Pumpkin pie my husband’s. At first, I decided to give both of them their options, but I ran out of time, as it’s often the case during long weekends. You know how it is, we think we can do so much each day, and we fill up our schedules to the brink. Sounds familiar, right?

Inspiration soon knocked on my door, and I decided to combine the two deserts, instead; and this, dear reader, is what came out. A delicious dessert to be enjoyed by all.

Here are the ingredients for the crust:

• 3 cups cracker crumbs ( I used Maria’s cookies )
• 2 sticks of butter

Ingredients for the pumpkin cream cheese filling  

• 2 packages of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of sugar ( pumpkin pie filling has also sugar added )
• 3 small range free eggs
• small can of pumpkin pie filling
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Ingredients for the cream cheese filling  

• 2 packages of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 3 small range free eggs
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation: 

Prepare the pan: spray it with some oil ( optional) Wrap the bottom pan with aluminium foil and place it in a rectangle pan.

In a food processor crumb the cookies. Melt the butter. Mix together the cookies crumbs and the butter. Place the mixture into the pan and even it using the bottom of a glass or your hand. I always like to raise a bit the crust sides with my fingers just to avoid the filling from seeping through the bottom of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Some of the recipes ask to bake the crust for 8 to 10 minutes. I usually skip this step because of my old oven, as in the end, my crust would always look burn on the outside.

In two large mixing bowls, using an electric mixer beat together the filling ingredients. Add the pumpkin filling to the pan. Pouring in the middle of the pan add the cream cheese filling. Using a knife make circular moves from the centre to the edges of the pan.

Bake the cake for an hour. When the sides are firm, and the middle slightly jiggle the pie should be ready. Let the cake cool down to room temperature for a few hours.

I baked the cake around 09:00 in the morning so we were able to indulge around 5:00 pm. I put the cake in the fridge for the last hour.