The Saga of the 37 Pumpkins - Installment No. 23 - Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake

Patch and Stalk continued to slide side by side.

"It's really neat that you're writing a book. I used to love reading when I was a kid in the patch."

Stalk nodded. "Me too. I just hope that my book will be something that the little pumpkins of the future can learn from," she scrunched up her rind, "There's just one thing that I worry about."

She paused and looked up at the so-called sun, then shook her stalk. A cloud fell over her rind.

The pair slid along in silence for several minutes. Then the ground began to shake.

"Stalk," Patch's voice was tense.

Stalk looked up.

"Legs."

"What?"

"Those big stalk-things. They're called legs. And the moving roots, the things that are coming really close to us now, those are feet," Stalk turned to Patch. "Hey, I was going to tell you something before. You remember?"

"Yes."

The others had begun to cry out shrill paeans to the approaching keeper. "Cheesecake!" one screeched.

"I'm gonna die. Those keepers aren't about to spare me just because I'm writing a book."

"They might," Patch forced a smile.

Stalk shook her stalk solemnly and frowned. "No. They don't even know that pumpkins can write books."

She resumed, "But I do. And it's important to me. Look, the keeper is right there, and I haven't spat it out yet. Patch, take my book." She proffered a book. "Keep it safe somehow. Edit it if you want. Just don't let it die with me."

Holding the book in his stalk, Patch gazed at his companion. Drops of liquid were dripping from her lenticels. She must have been sweating. But that didn't make much sense.

"Look, they're singing for me," she wiped a drop from her rind and choked out a laugh. "Goodbye, Patch."

And then there were 13...

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Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch ground cloves
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 (9 inch) graham cracker or gingersnap crust

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325° Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Then incorporate the eggs one at a time. Remove one cup of this batter and spread it into the bottom of your prepared crust.

Add pumpkin and spices to the remaining batter, then stir gently until blended. Now pour over the batter already in the pie crust.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40-65 minutes, or until the center is almost set- it will be soft, but not jiggly or liquid.

Poke the top. If it springs back, then it's done.

For us, this did not happen until after 75 minutes of baking, but others have used the shorter baking time with success.

Let cool for fifteen minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator. Leave it there to cool for three hours or overnight.

Enjoy!