Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

My brother bought back a pumpkin which he get from a friend. My mother rarely cooked with them, and I never used any pumpkin in my cooking - not even during my culinary study. Then, I remembered that Kevin from Closet Cooking have lots of pumpkin recipes, and I decided to try his Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake. I made this Pumpkin Cheesecake with a little bit of alteration with Kevin's recipe, using whatever ingredients available.

Closet Cooking Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs *

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp ground ginger

6 tbsp butter (melted)

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (room temperature)

3 eggs (slightly beaten)

1 cup brown sugar **

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger ***

1/4 tsp ground cloves ***

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg ***

1. Mix the gingersnap cookie crumbs, sugar, ginger and butter and press into the bottom and up 1 inch along the sides of a 9 inch spring form pan.

2. Bake the crust in a preheated oven at 350F for 5 minutes and set aside.

3. Cream the cream cheese.

4. Mix in the egg one at a time followed by brown sugar, pumpkin puree, vanilla and then, the spices.

5. Pour the mixture into the spring form pans.

6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until it is set, about 60-70 minutes.

7. Let it cool completely

8. Chill the cheesecake in the fridge overnight.

Alteration:

* I used marie biscuit crumbs instead of gingersnap cookie crumbs.

** I reduced the sugar to 3/4 cups

*** I used mixed spice as the spice isn't available.

Be sure to visit Closet Cooking for more awesome pumpkin recipes!

Kimchi and Egg Grilled Sandwiches

I'm addicted to grilled sandwiches lately. They're easy. And a friend told me that grilled toast have less calories than plain toast bread. I'd like to think that I'm eating healthily, so, I guess that's why I'm addicted to grilled sandwiches.

One of my favorite moment with grilling this sandwiches is flipping the toast on my frying pan (since we don't have a toaster). I've been practicing my flipping technique lately... And I think it's improving, since most of the food didn't fly out from my pan.

Okay, back to the grilled sandwiches. This one is kimchi and egg grilled sandwiches,which is inspired from Kevin from Closet Cooking. I love his blog. The recipes are good and the pictures are absolutely appetizing.

Kimchi and Egg Grilled Sandwiches

1 boiled egg

1/4 cup kimchi, drained and chopped

1/4 cup alfalfa sprout

2 tbsp mayonnaise

2 slice of bread.

a pinch of salt and paper to taste

Direction:

1. Spread toast bread with butter and grilled them over low heat for 2 minutes.

2. Mash boiled egg to desired consistency and set aside.

3. Saute the kimchi with little oil for 3 to 5 minutes. Then, mix in kimchi, egg, mayonnaise, salt and paper.

4. Assemble sandwiches. Lay alfalfa sprout on bread, and topped them with kimchi mixture. 

Note: In Closet Cooking recipes, Kevin added in some gochujang (Korean chili paste) in his mayonnaise. I tried them sometimes later. And gochujang and mayonnaise are a great combination!