Thanksgiving Baking

Though I wasn't hosting this year, I had to participate in the Thanksgiving day cooking by preparing the dessert for the big feast! At the request of our host, I prepared my Pumpkin Cheesecake (which I was told was even better than the Cheesecake Factory's version--complement taken!!) Tommy also requested something minty & chocolatey...so here's what I did...

My Pumpkin Cheesecake (I am pretty sure this is my recipe) Before:

And After! We noticed a bunch of scratches on the surface while we were cleaning up, and then I caught Isabella in action! As long as she liked it...I don't care what it looks like! (notice she is choosing to fore go her nicely plated piece for finger food)

At Tommy's request I tried the Mint Brownies from Epicurious. They received a lot of good reviews, but I thought they were just OK. I am not a huge fan of chocolate though, so that might be why. Tommy said they are good enough to make again...Nick thought the filling tasted like Andes Mints.

They are triple layered: homemade brownie, mint, chocolate topping. The best part of the whole thing was each layer required thorough "chilling" and I just set them out on the deck in the 18 degree weather--they were chilled in a snap!