Pumpkin "Faux de Creme" with Fall Leaf Cookies

 

The other night, my friend Marie and I went to an Indian Dinner Cooking Class at The Southern Season.  It was a magnificent feast followed by a really fabulous Yogurt "Cheesecake" Dessert which is the basis for this evening's post.  This is a prime example of how you can take inspiration from anywhere and with a few tweaks, make something your own.

This is not a light dessert.  The consistency is somewhere between cheesecake and custard but unlike either of those, contains neither cheese nor eggs.  I decided to accompany mine with some cute little pumpkin pie spiced fall leaf cookies.  For these I used my basic short dough cookie recipe and tweaked it a little to come up with a new variation.

Hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin "Faux de Creme"

1-1/2 cups plain Greek yougurt
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix together all the ingredients.

Pour the mixture into four medium (4-1/4") ramekins.  Fill each ramekin about 2/3 full.

Place ramekins in a deep-sides baking dish and fill with water until it comes halfway up the outside of the ramekins.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Remove baking dish from oven, remove ramekins from baking dish and cool to room temperature.  You can pour the water out, or use it to clean up some dishes.

Once room temped, place the ramekins in the fridge to cool.

Serve chilled with a dollop of whipped cream, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a handful of Fall Leaf Cookies.

Fall Leaf Cookies

2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
1 large egg, room temp
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.  Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, egg, sugar and vanilla until smooth.  Add in dry ingredients a bit at a time until it comes together as a dough.

Cover or wrap the dough in wax paper (or Saran Wrap) and chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Working half the dough at a time, roll out to about 1/4" thick and cut with pretty leaf cutters or whatever fall-inspired cookies cutters you have on hand.  Small gingerbread men that you can stick head first into the faux de creme would be pretty darned funny...I mean sick and twisted, so don't (nod nod) try that at home (wink wink).

 

Place cutouts on a lightly greased cookie sheet (or one covered with parchment paper).  You don't need to leave a ton of space between them because they puff up rather than poof out.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges.

Carefully remove the cookies when done and cool on a rack until they firm up.

The cookies go great with Pumpkin "Faux de Creme", or ice cream, or a nice cup of tea.  They are also very coffee/hot chocolate dunkable.