Jack O Lantern Cheesecakes Recipes

PHILADELPHIA 3-STEP MINI CHEESECAKE JACK-O'-LANTERNS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add eggs and food colorings; beat until blended.
• Place 1 cookie in each of 12 paper-lined muffin cups; cover with cream cheese mixture.
• Bake 20 min. or until centers are almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 2 hours. Decorate with candy corn to resemble jack-o'-lanterns just before serving.

JACK-O'-LANTERN TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Stir baking mix, milk, sugar, and butter together in a bowl until a soft dough forms. Smooth dough gently into a ball on a floured cloth placed over a cutting board. Knead dough 8 to 10 times only, as dough will get tough very quickly if overkneaded.
• Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness on the floured cloth. Cut dough using a floured 2-inch circle cookie cutter. Cut circles to form pumpkins; cut stems from scrap dough using a knife. Attach stems to the underside of the circles using a dab of milk and pressure. Place cookies on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden around the edges, about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely, 15 to 30 minutes.
• While cookies cool, cut licorice in 3 different sizes: 1/4-inch pieces in sets of 3 to form triangle eyes, tiny dots for the pupils, and 1- to 2-inch curved or straight segments to form mouths.
• Mix confectioners' sugar, milk, and orange extract together in a small bowl for frosting. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the frosting to dye with green food coloring in a bowl. Use orange food coloring to dye remaining frosting as desired.
• Frost green stems and orange pumpkin faces onto cooled cookies and decorate with cut licorice and candy corn while frosting is still wet.

JACK-O'-LANTERN PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Ginger Shortbread Crust:
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Place flour, sugar and ground ginger in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix together. Add egg yolk and softened butter and pulse until the dough comes together.
• Press the dough onto the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with your fingers, then smooth it out with an offset spatula. Prick the crust a few times with a fork to prevent the crust from puffing up during baking.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until the crust is a light golden brown.
• Let cool completely.
• Beat the reserved egg white lightly, then brush it onto the crust to prevent it from becoming soggy.
• Pumpkin Cheesecake:
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Fill a baking pan about 3/4-inch deep with hot water. Place it on the bottom rack of the oven to create a steam bath.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, whole eggs and egg yolks until creamy.
• Sift together the flour, cinnamon, cloves and ginger, and add to the cream cheese mixture; mix well.
• Beat in the heavy cream and vanilla, then add the pumpkin and beat just until mixed thoroughly.
• Pour the cream cheese batter over the prepared crust and bake on the middle oven rack for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
• Allow the cheesecake to cool completely.
• Place in the refrigerator and chill overnight.
• Use a jack-o'-lantern template to decorate the cheesecake with the cocoa powder.