Happy Wednesday! Did you realize that the Underwater Pumpkin Carving is just days away now? Remember, if you don’t want to participate by carving underwater, at least come to socialize with us. We always have lots of fun. Sometimes maybe even more fun that we should have… but shhh don’t tell just anyone about our shenanigans because… what happens at the Underwater Pumpkin Carving stays at the underwater pumpkin carving will come back to haunt you forever. haha.
If you are planning on carving though, keep in mind the
Things to have for Sunday:
- C-Card
- SCUBA gear
- Pumpkin
- Pumpkin carving tools (leave the electric tools at home!!)
- And an appetite (because there’s always food there!)
If you missed out on the official rules, we had them explained last week… be sure to check out that post right here!
Now, to the topic on hand. Food. Because remember if there is food, they will come. ha!
Speaking of last week…
Last Thursday night at the October Extreme Dive Club Meeting we had some delicious food! Our food consisted of Spaghetti, Alfredo, Garlic Bread, Sides, and desserts. We had a Loaded Peanut Butter Layer Cake for Grady’s birthday as well. If you missed his birthday, it was the 7th. (Your welcome Grady!)
But another dessert we had revolved around pumpkin. Since this is October. It is also pumpkin season. Plus we like food… I thought I might share the Caramel Pumpkin Spice Blondie Streusel Cheesecake recipe that was brought for Dive Club. Sometimes, as the blogger, it is my duty to throw us all off guard with random posts, say about food.
The Back Story.
So I made mention that there was a Loaded Peanut Butter Layer Cake brought for Grady’s Birthday, right? Well, if you noticed, we made a cake for multiple other people’s birthdays, so why not Grady’s too? Since he likes peanut butter, it seemed perfect, right? Well… I won’t lie, I made the cake. Deb worried me that the peanut butter cake would be dry, so I made the above picture just in case the other cake was horrible. It was a sort of an “in case that cake is awful, I have a back up that is good” cake. #truth!
Now: The dessert
- For the Pumpkin Blondie:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, unpacked
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 egg white
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp salt
- For the Cheesecake:
- 24 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar, unpacked
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- Pinch of allspice
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- For the Streusel:
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- Pinch of cloves
- 4 tbsp salted butter, melted
- Caramel sauce
- Line the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan (or cake pan) with parchment paper and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- Add the melted butter and brown sugar to a medium bowl, whisk to combine.
- Add the vanilla, the egg, and the egg white, whisk to combine.
- With a rubber spatula, fold in the pumpkin puree.
- In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing only until combined. Do not overmix.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared pan and bake at 350˚F for 27-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of blondie comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool in pan.
- Once the cake has cooled, make the cheesecake portion.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and the allspice. Mix well to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form. Then add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold the cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream.
- Line the sides of the springform pan that the blondie is in with parchment paper that sticks about an inch above the pan.
- Top the blondie with the cream cheese mixture. Spread in an even layer.
- Place in the refrigerator until firm, 5-6 hours minimum.
- Once the cheesecake has set up, you can remove from the springform pan.
- Make the streusel topping while the cheesecake sits up so you’re ready to go.
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
- Add flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter to a bowl and mix with a form until all ingredients are combined. The mixture should be crumbly.
- Place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet or jelly roll and spread the streusel mixture in a thin layer over the parchment paper.
- Bake mixture for 6-8 minutes in a 350˚F oven until it’s nice and bubbly and the edges are lightly crispy.
- Pull out of the oven and set aside to cool.
- Once the streusel topping is cool, break into small pieces and sprinkle on top of cheesecake.
- To finish, drizzle the cheesecake with storebought (or homemade) caramel sauce if desired.
- Serve.