Halloween Treats: It's The Great Pumpkin Cheesecake

Welcome, Great Pumpkin. [Photograph: María del Mar Sacasa]

"Dear Great Pumpkin,
I am looking forward to your arrival on Halloween Night."
—Linus, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Linus sits in the cold pumpkin patch, silly Sally too googly-eyed and blinded by pulsating pink and red cartoon hearts to realize there is no giant gourd coming that night.

Oh Great Pumpkin, humble squash, martyr of October. Stabbed, defaced, lit on fire, hidden in metal cans. I too, am looking forward to your arrival, but in a more tangible form.

One of my favorite seasonal desserts is pumpkin cheesecake, despite the abundance of its variations and oversaturation of the market with all things pumpkin-and-spice. Ginger snap and brown sugar crust and homemade candied nuts (with a thin coating of toasted sugar and spices that shatter at first bite) are what you can expect in my rendition. You'd be a blockhead not to try it.

It's the Great Pumpkin Cheesecake, Charlie Brown. Promise not to pull it away from you.

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It's the Great Pumpkin Cheesecake »

About the author: María del Mar Sacasa is a recipe developer, food stylist, and author of the food blog High Heels & Frijoles. Behind her girly façade lurks a truck driver's appetite. Read about her cravings and suffer through her occasional rants on Twitter @HHandFrijoles.