You didn’t think I was going to leave out the pumpkin for my friendsgiving gatherings, right? Of course you didn’t. You know me too well. Growing up, Mama Lin always stir fried pumpkin with a bit of lean pork. It tasted fine, but that didn’t help me develop a strong affinity for pumpkin. Let’s be honest, savory pumpkin + pork doesn’t exactly scream “EAT ME” to a child. My first taste of pumpkin pie years later completely broadened my pumpkin horizons. That rich and creamy orange stuff laced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and all-spice tingled my tastebuds and stole my heart. If only Mama Lin had tried her hand at making a pumpkin pie. Too bad she doesn’t like the taste of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, or all-spice. You’ll have to forgive her though—eating Vietnamese or Thai food is already an adventure. It wasn’t until high school when I experienced a full-on traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I bonded with my high school bestie over a box of Kix cereal, and months later, she invited me to Thanksgiving dinner with her family! After hours of stringing pounds of green beans and waiting patiently for the turkey to finish roasting, we devoured our day’s labor in minutes. These Thanksgiving dinners with my bestie firmly cemented in my mind that no Thanksgiving is complete without a pumpkin treat. (Oh, it rhymes!) This year, The Soyfoods Council asked me to create a #SoyInspired dish for Thanksgiving. You know that I’m a huge fan of soy products because of its nutritional value, but I never thought of using soy in my Thanksgiving dinner. Kitchen experiments, here I come! Because pumpkin pie is the one dish I look forward to every Thanksgiving, I wanted to create a pumpkin treat using soy products. And while I’m at it, why not make it into a vegan dessert so that everyone can enjoy it? Instead of going down the traditional pumpkin pie route, I decided to create a no-bake cheesecake recipe. Most of us will probably be stressin’ out about the turkey and the 500 sides cooking in the oven or on the stovetop. We don’t need to add another oven dish if we can avoid it. 3 batches of soy cheesecakes and graham cracker crusts later, I made one MEAN pumpkin dessert. Friends, these cheesecakes are SUBLIME. It’s a major flavor explosion of: CinnamonGingerNutmegAll-SpiceClovesCardamom Must you use all of these spices? YES! Skip the cardamom and maybe the cloves if you must. But it’s really this panoply of pumpkin spices together that make these mini cheescakes shine. To make these cheesecakes, we’re going to start with the crust. Pulse all the ingredients together so that everything starts to look like the consistency of wet sand. Then, you’ll pack the crust inside 12 muffin lined tins. Blend the cheesecake filling, top it on these crusts, freeze, and take them out when you’re ready to eat them. Easy peasy! To learn more about the nutritional benefits of soy and get more recipe ideas, check out The Soyfoods Council’s website.
