Who pulls out a red mixing bowl at 10:22 pm? Only a Mother with a desperate look in her eye as she searches for all things edible; hoping the carton contains whole eggs and not just their vacant shells, this time! Four lunches and an empty fridge await her.

This was me last week... who am I kidding, every week!

Then, it was jam filled muffins to the rescue and shaken, not stirred instant pudding.

What would I do without my trusty mason jar? And containers with lids that never quite make it back into their assigned places.

Baking at that hour needs to be quiet, hence the muffin idea was born. Instead of another boring muffin recipe though; a more decadent dessert, seems a better choice considering Christmas is so close.

Its been one week since my last submission, I think I broke a record here! Lets hope I can keep this up, but next time I promise to skip the baking and move on to real food...my favourite.

photo by me

I made this for a recent birthday, repeated it for the next and had requests to share the recipe.

One of my daughters created a cookbook as a high school project, at Tastebook.com. This was one of the recipes she included.

Almond Pumpkin Cheesecake

Almond crust:

1/2 cup butter

2 cups gingersnap cookies/crushed, about 24

1 cup sliced almonds,toasted

Pumpkin Filling:

2 blocks of cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar,packed

4 eggs

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 cup pureed pumpkin (or use canned)

1 cup sour cream (I used plain yogurt last time)

1/2 cup caramel sauce (ice cream topping)

2 tbsp chocolate sauce (ice cream topping)

3/4 cup sliced almonds, with skin,toasted.(optional)

Crust: Grease bottom and sides of 9" spring form pan or use parchment, cut to size. Melt butter, then add cookie crumbs and almonds. Mix well and press evenly into pan with a flat bottomed glass. Chill for one hour.

Pumpkin Filling: Beat cream cheese with white and brown sugar in a large bowl till smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined.Add the next six ingredients and mix. Pour filling onto crust. Spread evenly. Bake at 325' for 1 hour and 15 minutes until almost set. Filling may wobble in the middle but will set upon cooling. Immediately run a knife around inside of pan to allow cheesecake to settle evenly. Cool completely, then cover. chill for at least 6 hours.

Spread caramel over entire top of cheesecake. Drizzle with chocolate in long loops, 1 " apart over caramel. Gently drag skewer through line to create marble effect. Sprinkle almonds around the edge. Enjoy!

Photo by me