Vegan MoFo: Pumpkin Cheesecake

I haven't made cheesecake since becoming vegan, but it's my all time favorite pie/cake.  So this Thanksgiving, we're having pumpkin cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie OKAY.

It began thusly:

A reduced fat Ralph's brand crapola crust.  Its label even said V for Vegan.  It's weird how pervasive veganism has grown just over the past couple of years.  Anyway, the filling.

I used the recipe from Joy of Vegan Baking for the filling and added a dash of pepper and a bit of molasses.  Molasses makes things awesome.  I didn't want to use "no stinkin tofu" in the cheesecake.  This recipe is awesome because it's all Better Than Cream Cheese.  Yeah yeah yeah.  There are recipes that pretty gaddang similar all over the interwebs though, for instance this one.  But hey, I trust CPG to make a dang fine recipe and so it is.

How do I know?  No, I didn't cut into the cheesecake, but I did have a bit of filling leftover in the bowl and had to have a taste...

The pie filled, it was time to commence baking procedures:

I knew from previous cheesecake experiences to put the damn thing on a pan because those flimsy aluminum pie pans mess a cheesecake right up.

It took 45 minutes of impatience, but the result was worth it:

The thing is not even cracked (a first for me) ...okay, it is wrinkled a little bit, but wrinkles give it a bit of character.

So damned perfect!  It's been so long since I've had cheesecake - the last time was at Shojin for my undergrad graduation.  I can't wait to have some of this terribly caloric stuff on Thanksgiving!  Yay!

We did a lot of Thanksgiving shopping this weekend, and I pre-made some herby dense bread for stuffing and chopped up some butternut squash for roasting.  Yes, the boy did buy a turkey.