The Painted Apron

Are you tired of pumpkin yet? I was officially sick of everything pumpkin but I was assigned desserts for our family Thanksgiving and everyone was expecting pumpkin SOMETHING!  When I hear the word cheesecake my ears perk up…who doesn’t like cheesecake…so when I was browsing recipes I tended to stop and read all the cheesecake ones, so it wasn’t hard to decide to make something along these lines.

I remembered I had a tried and true recipe called Double Layer Pumpkin Pie that I decided could be adapted to make PUMPKIN PIE CHEESECAKE TARTLETS.  I wanted to make a small bite sized dessert instead of a large pie so guests wouldn’t be so overwhelmed with dessert after a big Thanksgiving meal.

I pulverized some Ginger Snaps in the food processor and gently rolled them into the pie crust dough.

I decided to use my pumpkin baking pan, the tartlets would be a little larger than if I used a mini muffin pan which would suit my 2 layer recipe better

I used a large sea shell cookie cutter because it had a scalloped edge like the pan and knew that once baked no one would know it was a sea shell.

After tucking the dough into the pan, I lined each shell with a small square of foil

which I filled with dry rice and beans,

and they were ready for baking.

I fashioned some leaves out of the leftover dough

used a sharp paring knife to mimic the leaf veins

and brushed them with a little beaten egg

I put a layer of the cream cheese mixture in the bottom of the baked and cooled tartlette shells

and topped it with a thick dollop of the pumpkin pie cheesecake filling

I topped the tartlettes with a little reserved cream cheese & cool whip mixture and added a baked pie crust leaf

a sprinkle of ginger snap crumbs and these little tartlettes were ready to go to the party!

I actually made these a day ahead of time and stored them in a tupperware container in the refrigerator until party time the next day.  Easy, do ahead & delicious, a perfect dish!

Here’s the recipe:

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The painted tableware is from JMdesigns Gallery

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