Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

From Kraft's Food & Family Magazine, Fall 2006:

25 Nabisco Ginger Snaps, finely crushed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
4 bricks cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Dash ground cloves

Preheat over to 325 degrees (or 300 degrees if using a dark pan). Mix ginger snap crumbs, pecans and butter; press firmly on to bottom and 1 inch up side of 9-inch springform pan.

Beat cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended.

Remove 1 1/2 cups plain batter; place in small bowl. Stir remaining 1/4 cup sugar, pumpkin and spices into remaining batter. Spoon half of the pumpkin batter into crust; top with spoonfuls of half of the reserved plain batter. Repeat layers. Cut through batters with knife several times for swirl effect.

Bake 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Store in refrigerator.

Pumpkin Bread

One of our sweet church member, Joan Moore, shared this recipe with me. It is unique in that it has no eggs and is a very dense bread. Mmmmmm!

3 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup warm water
1 can pumpkin
1 cup cooking oil

Mix all together. Prepare your loaf pans (I use the 9 inch long and get 2 loaves out of one batch) by using Crisco to grease the sides and bottom of the pan and then lightly flouring them. Place 1/2 of the batter in each pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-70 minutes or until the middle set and the middle can be poked with a toothpick and come out clean.