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I’ve never been a big fan of pumpkin mixed into cheesecake, but I LOVE pumpkin pie. Why not make them separate, but together? Add my favorite “brown sugar” pecan crust and you have a dessert fit for Thanksgiving Day! This Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake is low carb, sugar free, gluten free, and a THM S for Trim Healthy Mamas.
SUCCESS TIPS
- To help prevent cheesecakes from cracking, use full fat cream cheese and sour cream and make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before mixing. I don’t mind cracks, so I always use reduced fat cream cheese. Full fat cream cheese will give you a denser cheesecake, whereas reduced fat cream cheese will give you a less stiff result (which I prefer). You can also save some unnecessary calories. Sour cream and Greek yogurt can be interchanged in cheesecake recipes, but I think full fat sour cream gives a creamier texture than Greek yogurt does.
- Cheesecake gets even better with age. 2 days after baking is when it peaks, in my opinion. But it stays good in the fridge for even longer than that. You can try freezing cheesecake but it does get a bit more watery when thawed.
Ingredient Notes
- Oat fiber: This can usually only be purchased online. Oat flour and oat fiber are not the same thing and cannot be swapped. Use gluten free oat fiber if necessary! Not all brands are created equally – use oat fiber that is light in color without a strong smell or taste.
- Molasses: This is allowed on the Trim Healthy Mama plan in small amounts (1/4 teaspoon per serving) for flavor. I like Grandma’s molasses from Walmart or a local grocery store. Blackstrap molasses is recommended I believe, but the nutrition info isn’t that different from Grandma’s and I don’t like the taste nearly as well. Molasses IS technically a sweetener, but it’s not refined sugar and is only used in a small amount for flavor so I’m still calling this recipe sugar free. 😉
- Sweetener: Feel free to use your favorite low glycemic sweetener to taste in place of the sweeteners I used. I used a combination of Sweet Blend and Gentle Sweet to get a balanced sweetness without breaking the bank. Feel free to add more Gentle Sweet if you want a sweeter cheesecake.
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Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake
- Total Time: 1 hour 53 minutes
- Yield: 12-14
Description
I’ve never been a big fan of pumpkin mixed into cheesecake, but I LOVE pumpkin pie. Why not make them separate, but together? Add my favorite “brown sugar” pecan crust and you have a dessert fit for Thanksgiving Day! This Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake is low carb, sugar free, gluten free, and a THM S for Trim Healthy Mamas.
Check out the blog post for further success tips and ingredient notes!
Ingredients
CRUST:
- 1 1/2 cups (170g) pecan meal*
- 1/2 cup oat fiber
- 6 tablespoons salted butter (softened)
- 1 teaspoon molasses
- 2 teaspoons THM Super Sweet Blend
CINNAMON CHEESECAKE:
- 3 (8 ounce) packages reduced fat cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1 cup full fat sour cream (room temperature)
- 4 tablespoons THM Gentle Sweet (or more, to taste)
- 2 tablespoons THM Super Sweet Blend
- 1 teaspoon molasses (for brown sugar flavor)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 eggs (room temperature)
PUMPKIN PIE LAYER:
- 1 (15 ounce) can plain pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tablespoons THM Super Sweet Blend (or more, to taste)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (scant)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream or half and half
Instructions
CRUST: Mix the crust ingredients together with a fork. Press into the bottom of a greased 10 inch springform pan. (I don’t press it up the sides.) Bake at 350* F for 8 minutes. Let the crust cool while preparing the fillings. Turn the oven down to 325*.
CINNAMON CHEESECAKE: Beat the room temperature cream cheese in a stand mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the sour cream, sweeteners, molasses, vanilla, and cinnamon and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well between each addition until the cheesecake filling is smooth and emulsified. Add more THM Gentle Sweet if you want a sweeter cheesecake.
PUMPKIN PIE LAYER: Beat the pumpkin puree and eggs together in a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer) until well mixed. Add the sweetener, spices, vanilla, and salt and mix again. Add the cream in two additions and mix until everything is homogenous. Batter will be runny.
ASSEMBLY: Pour the cheesecake batter on top of the warm (not hot) crust, reserving 1 1/2 cups of batter for the top of the cheesecake. Gently pour the pumpkin pie layer on top of the cheesecake layer, keeping the layers as distinct as possible. I use a measuring cup to add the pumpkin layer a little at a time. Spread out the pumpkin layer with an offset spatula. Top with small blobs of the remaining cheesecake batter and use a knife to swirl it into a pretty pattern with the pumpkin layer. (Or just go for two distinct layers and put ALL the cheesecake filling on top of the crust topped by the pumpkin pie layer. No swirls.)
BAKE: Place the cheesecake pan into a piece of extra wide aluminum foil and wrap the foil around the sides of the pan, then place the contraption into a larger pan filled with 3/4 inch of water. (A pizza pan with sides works great.) This water bath will help prevent your cheesecake from cracking and just help it bake more evenly. Place the cheesecake on an oven rack placed one notch below the middle of the oven. Bake at 325* for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the cheesecake still has a bit of a wobble but is fairly set. Turn the oven off, crack the door open, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for 10 minutes to cool slowly. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and cool to room temperature. Store (covered) in the fridge once fully cool. Cheesecake actually tastes better the next day!
Serve it up with some sugar free caramel sauce if you want to go over the top! I’ve used this recipe from Nana’s Little Kitchen in the past and really enjoyed it.
Notes
*Pecan meal is just pecan halves or pieces ground to a coarse flour consistency in a food processor or food chopper. You can try replacing the pecan meal with almond flour, but the crust will be more dry. Add an extra tablespoon or two of butter to bring the crust to a wet sand texture that you can press into the pan.
Don’t feel like messing with a springform pan? Just bake this in a 9×13 inch pan until set (a little wobble is ok). To keep things really easy you can just pour all the cheesecake onto the crust and all the pumpkin pie on top of that for two distinct layers.
Allergy info: gluten free (use gluten free oat fiber)
This recipe has been updated as of November 2023. I recommend printing out a copy of the new version and slipping it into your copy of Necessary Food to replace the Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake recipe on page 355. 🙂
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 83 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: THM S, low carb
Try these!
Do you have my cookbooks yet?
My son is allergic to tree nuts. Do you have a suggestionf for a sub in the crust?
I would just look for a cheesecake crust from another recipe that uses flours he can have. 🙂 The only 1:1 subs I can think of would also be nut based. My baking mix is nut free but it’s drier than nut flours so you would use less of it.
Will it work in a 9inch springform? I just realized that’s all I have ?
Probably, but you may need to bake a little longer.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it! I recently made it for a potluck event and got great (unsolicited) reviews on it.
I’m sorry to hear that, Heidi, but thank you for letting me know. I do tend to use less sweetener than most people like, so please always feel free to add more! Coincidentally, I just had a really good pumpkin cheesecake (THM) that my aunt brought for Thanksgiving and I liked it better than my own recipe, so I’m going to be tweaking this one sometime before I release my cookbook next year.
Is the springform pan an absolute must? Will it turn out fine in a foil pan? I’m planning to travel(drive) for thanksgiving and don’t want to worry about a pan. =)
I’ve only ever tried this recipe in a springform pan, but you’re welcome to try whatever works for you. 🙂
Put everything into MyFitnessPal?
If made with fat free cream cheese (despite the recipe tip) making this into 12 servings means 10g carbs, 3g fiber for 7g net carbs. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Oat fiber, what is it & where do I get it? Are there any substitutes for it?
Oat fiber is a unique flour that has no fats are carbs and is very fine. I love it to add stability to things! I usually get mine from Netrition.com, but Trim Healthy Mama carries it too (links are located below the recipe). You could probably use whey protein instead in this recipe.
Thank s!
At the end of bake time when you open the oven for 10 min., is the oven on or off? thanks!
Off 🙂
This cheesecake is gorgeous and is perfect for my thanksgiving table!