Fall is here!

As the weather starts to cool down and there is a smell of crisp leaves in the air so comes the desire to cook fall comfort foods and deserts with pumpkin.

To celebrate the season finale of Top Chef Season 7 and the season premier of Top Chef Just Deserts I hosted dinner and a viewing party at my place and this was the perfect opportunity to start the fall cooking. The menu for the evening included my fall favorites of cranberry, fig and pumpkin:

• Fig and Brie "Bruschetta"
• Carrots, Green and Wax beans in a brown sugar butter sauce
• Yukon Gold smashed potatoes with Gruyere cheese
• Individual Cranberry Meatloaf

For desert I made a Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake, I started with a recipe from Good Housekeeping with a few modifications so the desert was more diabetic friendly. Instead of topping with candied ginger I made a fresh whip cream with nutmeg.

Crumb Crust:

• 1 cup cinnamon graham-cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons Splenda Spoonful sugar

Pumpkin Filling:

• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/4 cups Splenda Spoonful Sugar
• 1 cans (15-ounce) pure pumpkin (not pumpkin-pie mix)
• 3/4 cups sour cream
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs

Sour-Cream Topping:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons Splenda Spoonful sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Baking directions can be found here.