Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust Recipe!

Fall traditionally has a monopoly on some of the best seasonal flavors and we've partnered with Honeyville to create a recipe that incorporates quite a few of them! Our Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust is going to be a holiday favorite this season!

With so many wonderful occasions to get together during the holiday season, I feel like there are also so many opportunities to try and wow my friends and family with new and impressive recipes. However, with events around every corner, I often find myself scrambling to create something tasty and beautiful in a bind, especially with the limited or exhausted ingredients in the fridge. So many times, I've had to adjust my dessert menu because of too many missing ingredients. When cooking season is at full-steam, it's so easy to run out of things without realizing it. For these reasons, I really rely on Honeyville's food products that can be bought in bulk and stored for YEARS at room temperature. I'm never panicked about not having the dairy staples that are so crucial in the best holiday desserts. I'm excited to share with you one of my favorite holiday recipes and show you how using dried dairy food products from Honeyville can create something totally delicious!

I was delighted to try out a few of Honeyville's dried dairy products at no cost to facilitate this review. If you're anything like my husband, you might look at these cans above and think "fake" or "imitation", but let me ease your worries. These are not imitation food powders! If you look at the ingredients, these contain all the elements of the actual food item, only they have been dried or separated in order to preserve their shelf life. With these items in your pantry, you are prepared for emergencies, big and small, but you are also stocked up on everyday cooking and baking staples.

The first step in creating your pumpkin cheesecake straight from autumn heaven is to mix up some powdered butter for your gingersnaps. The ingredients in the Honeyville Powdered Butter include: butter, nonfat milk, and three other compounds to protect the flavor. These are not imitation products at all, so the product you get when you use these is practically identical to using traditional solid butter.

Gingersnap Ingredients:

• 1 cup powdered butter (+ ½ cup warm water)
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• ⅓ cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 ¾ cups flour
• 2 t. baking soda
• 1 t. ginger
• ½ t. cloves
• 1 t. cinnamon
• ½ t. salt

Directions:

Combine the powdered butter with ½ cup warm water and mix well. Add the brown sugar, molasses, and egg with the butter and beat in a mixer for 1 minute. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and salt. Pour flour mixture into wet mixture and beat until well combined. Scoop out the dough using a cookie scooper and roll into balls, then roll the balls in a bowl of sugar to coat. Arrange on unsprayed wax paper and cook for 9-10 minutes at 350°. You can choose to flatten with a spoon, or leave them rounded. See the difference between the two above. Makes 2 dozen.

These are SO tasty and oh so soft! The molasses and brown sugar make these taste so delightfully seasonal and special. To keep them soft for longer, store in airtight containers very soon after cooling to preserve their moisture.

If you can restrain yourself from eating absolutely all of these, reserve half (about a dozen) for your cheesecake crust. Crumble the cookies up by hand or in a food processor and press down into a spring form pan with a fork.

Next, we get to whip up that yummy cream cheese layer! The Cream Cheese Powder is made simply by adding hot water and whisking well. You can add more or less water to reach the desired consistency, then chill and use like cream cheese. The label says not recommended for baked cheesecakes, but I didn't find it to be a problem, perhaps because I included so many other stable ingredients like pumpkin and eggs. I think the Honeyville Powdered Cream Cheese is actually delicious and I'm thrilled to have so much of this mixture on hand for all of my favorite desserts and entrees that use cream cheese.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Layer Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups Honeyville Cream Cheese Powder (+ 8 T. hot water)
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• ⅓ cup maple syrup
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 1 t. nutmeg
• 1 t. salt

Directions:

Combine the cream cheese powder with 8 T. hot water and whisk well. Add the eggs and whip until fluffy. Beat in the sweetened condensed milk, pumpkin, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour into the spring form pan on top of the cookie crust and bake for 1 hour 25 min. at 325°. Cool for 1 hour, then cover and chill for at least 4 hours.

The sour cream layer on top is so essential in this recipe and the Powdered Sour Cream is my favorite item from Honeyville! It is made from real cultured milk cream and is reconstituted by using one part mix to one part liquid. It is so thick and creamy that my husband totally prefers this sour cream to store-bought. It couldn't be faster to make, and it can be used in baking, dipping sauces, entrees, or as a topping. Plus, it can be store in original sealed, oxygen-free cans for 5 to 10 years!

Sour Cream Layer Ingredients:

• 2 cups sour cream powder
• 1 cup water
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 t. vanilla

Mix together the powder with the water, then beat all ingredients together until smooth. Add to the cooled and chilled cheesecake and smooth with a spatula.

Top your pumpkin cheesecake with Insta-Whip, and you have one dreamy dessert on your hands! The Insta-Whip is another favorite because you just have to add cold water. It is light and creamy and it works fabulously in cream pies, chiffons, or mousses. I so often wish I had whipped cream to top off our desserts or even waffles, and now having a can of Insta-Whip in the cupboard, I don't have to worry about buying cream.

The key to slicing cheesecake is using a warm knife. You can set it in a container of hot water, then dry in on a towel before slicing and clean it off after every cut.

Top your yummy pumpkin cheesecake with a sprinkle of cinnamon and some candied pecans!

I am always so delighted with how this Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake turns out, especially with the irresistible gingersnap cookie crust. You'd never guess it was made with dried dairy products. In fact, I think they enhance the recipe. If you love cooking from scratch and avoiding missing ingredients, or simply have a hard time getting to the store for perishable dairy items on a regular basis, I totally recommend Honeyville's dried dairy products! They always provide reliable and delicious results. Enjoy whipping up this pumpkin cheesecake this holiday season!!

Connect: You can connect with Honeyville on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Buy it: You can purchase the Powdered Butter for $25.59, Powdered Cream Cheese for $28.59, Powdered Sour Cream for $26.49, and Insta-Whip Mix for $6.49 on the Honeyville website.

Disclosure: I (Camille) received these Honeyville items at no cost to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own. One winner will be randomly selected using the Giveaway Tools random selector and notified via email. Once notified, the winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or Google. Void where prohibited.