With the stress of Thanksgiving occurring this week, let me take the worry away from cooking a dessert that everyone on your guest list will love.  In just a few minutes, you can present a fun and easy dessert that explodes in autumn cheer.  Still keeping the tradition of fall flavors, this no-bake pumpkin cheesecake dessert will capture the seasonal mood in a non-traditional presentation.

This year, we are skipping the pie and making individual dessert treats. I’m serving my favorite childhood cookies (and my son’s favorites too!), galletas Maria with a pumpkin mixture of cream cheese, topped creamy whipped topping, dulce de leche and pepitas. Don’t be surprised when your Thanksgiving guests of all ages, devour this special treat and beg to be served seconds… and thirds!

Pumpkin Cheesecakes in a Cup with Dulce de Leche Drizzle

Makes  4 -6

Ingredients:

• 20 Maria cookies, crushed
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons dulce de leche plus more for topping
• 4 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• whipped topping
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• pepita seeds

Instructions
In a food processor, combine cookies and butter.  Pulse until cookies are crushed and moistened and butter is evenly distributed.  Divide mixture among 4 cups.

In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, mix heavy cream until stiff peaks form.  In a separate mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, dulce de leche, sugar, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon until mixture is smooth.  Fold in pumpkin puree and heavy cream.

Place pumpkin mixture on cookie crumb layer, distributing evenly.  Top with whipped topping, dulce de leche and a sprinkle of pepita seeds.

Editor’s note: This is the second post in our Flan Week celebration in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Today is the turn of Chef Uchi from Latino Food Lovers and she brings us a Malbec flan alfajor. She says: “This is a classic family recipe of flan with caramel and whipped cream with some modernized modifications to delight. When accompanied by whipped cream and dulce de leche, the flan is called ‘mixto’ (mixed).” We hope you come back all week to check out all the different ways of making flan!

Memories often inspire us. To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, I was inspired by two sublime memories: the alfajores I savored during my childhood and good wine shared with friends.

In Argentina, there are alfajores of all kinds. You can find regional alfajores (such as the Santa Fe, the cordobeces, Mar del Plata) and the commercial ones.

Another major inspiration is the wine. In Argentina, like in most Latin America, it is the perfect companion for a barbecue (asados). There are different varieties, although Malbec has become an icon for the Argentinean wine industry.

For my recipe, I have used a touch of Malbec. For its presentation I gave this dessert an alfajor shape. It is why I called it “Malbec flan alfajor”.

Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

250 grs. sugar

740 ml whole milk

1 vanilla extract

1 1/2 tablespoon Malbec

250 grs. sugar

7 eggs

1 egg yolk

Dulce de leche (to taste)

Chantilly cream (to taste)

Chocolate or caramel decoration

Preparation:

Caramel

1. Prepare caramel with 250 grs. sugar and a little water in a saucepan  and cook until it begins to turn brown

2. Pour the caramel into ramekins

Flan

1. Mix milk, vanilla, Malbec wine and half the sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil in bain marie

2. Mix eggs and yolks with half the sugar

3. Add the mixture from step 2 in step 1

4. Strain the mixture through a chinoise

4. Fill the molds with the mixture and place in a deep pan with water

5. Bake at low heat (300˚F) for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the dessert gets a thick consistency

6. Let it cool and place in the refrigerator (if possible overnight)

7. Pass a knife around sides of the flan

8. Remove the mold on a tray

9. Connect the two flans with a drop of dulce de leche

10. Serve with some whipped cream and chocolate or caramel decoration

Chef Uchi Davidzon was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a food writer and dessert guide at About.com, a digital property of The New York Times Co. Uchi is a Pastry Chef from FCI (French Culinary Institute New York) who was awared Les Dame D´Escoffier NYC 2010. She is the founder of Lola Mora Catering NYC and publishes the Latin Food Lovers blog which was awarded the best food blog by Blogs By Latinas Awards 2011. 

The contents of this posting, including, but not limited to its text, graphics, video, and images is the exclusive property of Luciana Davidzon and is used here with her express permission. Said contents may not subsequently be used or reproduced in any way without express written permission from Ms. Davidzon. Copyright © 2011 by Luciana Davidzon. All rights reserved.

My husband, my girl and I all have a very sweet tooth.  Our weekend breakfasts usually consist of pancakes, waffles or crepes that my girl and I make together.  It’s become a bit of a special routine.  The one thing that is always present in our sweet breakfasts, thanks to my husband’s obsession with it, is Mexican cajeta; similar to dulce de leche, but made with goat’s milk instead of cow’s milk.  I’m sure when my daughter is older and away from home, she will feel nostalgia for cajeta since it’s such a part of her life.  Our favorite way to eat it is inside a freshly made crepe stuffed with strawberries.

Since I like to keep it simple and easy when I cook, I use whole wheat or buttermilk pancake mixes to make crepes.  All you have to do is add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more water to the mix to thin it out and you will get crepes.  I also make sure I keep a can of PAM cooking spray in the Butter flavor because it is the best way I’ve found to grease the pan for an even and good-tasting crepe.  Crepes need to cook at a heat of 400 or above, so butter usually burns up too quickly and chars the crepe.  Oil just makes a huge mess because of the high heat and doesn’t taste as good as  butter does for crepes.  A quick spray of PAM Butter greases it just fine and is easy to use.

Here’s how Camila and I make our favorite Crepas de Cajeta with Strawberries together:

Ingredients

• Your preferred pancake mix + ingredients requested on their instructions (most likely one egg and water)
• PAM cooking spray in Butter flavor
• Cajeta to taste.  You can find it at most large supermarkets in the Latin foods section, or make it yourself.  You can also substitute it with dulce de leche (my husband wouldn’t go for that one!)
• Fresh strawberries
• A dash of milk

To Make

Prepare the crepe mix as indicated on the box, but add 1/4-1/2 cup more water to thin out the mix;  it should be smooth and liquid.

The size of your crepes will depend on the size of the pan you use.

Spray the pan evenly with a quick one-second shot of PAM Butter flavor spray and place it on the high heat setting. Ideally, it should be at around 400 degrees.

Using a ladel or a measuring cup, pour 1/4 of a cup (or less, depending on the size of your pan) to fill a large sauteé pan.  The trick to a good crepe is to swirl the mix around to cover the entire surface of the pan as soon as you pour it in.  Don’t worry if it’s not a perfect circle because it won’t be noticeable once the crepe is closed.

Heat on one side for about 30 seconds until the edges start to crisp. Flip to the other side until done.  Since they are thin, they are ready quickly.

Remove and place on a dish.  I suggest you make all the crepes before continuing onto the next steps.

One by one, grab the crepes and place in the middle 2-3 sliced strawberries and pour over them approximately 3 tablespoons of cajeta.  Fold from each side and place the folded ends underneath.

Place a small saucepan over medium heat and  pour a 1/4 cup of cajeta and a dash of milk.  Stir until dissolved to create a cajeta sauce to pour over the crepes.

While sharing this recipe with you, I’ve also given you a tip of how I use PAM cooking spray to help me make consistently great-tasting and good-looking crepes.  We invite you to also share your tips for how PAM Helps You Pull it Off and enter PAM’s Top Tips contest {Update: This contest is now closed} for a chance to win $5,000 cash, a dinner party with Venezuelan-native celebrity chef George Duran and more. All you have to do is go here and submit a video, photo or blog entry with your cooking, grilling or all-around creative household tip on how to use PAM.  ¡Buena Suerte!

Disclosure:  This post is part of a sponsored series to help promote PAM’s Top Tip Contest.  We also received PAM products and promotional material from ConAgra to assist in preparing the posts.  All opinions (and the cajeta love!) are all our own.