Recipe Scrapbook Home Bran Buddy / HiFi Buddy Bars Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Chocolate Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Bars Prototype 1 Chocolate Cherry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Banana Prototype 1 Fluffernutter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Lemon Prototypes 1 & 2 Orange Prototype 1 Pumpkin Prototype 1 (plus Balls variation) HiFi Buddy Balls Orange Prototype 1 Chocolate Prototype 1 (plus Orange-Chocolate variation) Prototype 2 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototypes 1 & 2 Maple Prototype 1 Eggnog Prototype 1 Pancakes Eggnog Pancake Batter Notes Trader Joe's Mix Latkes Spicy Latkes Matzah Pizza Stack Basic Crust Bran Buds Pie Crust Pies Chilled Eggnog Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chilled Pumpkin Eggnog Prototype 1 Key Lime Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Eggnog Notes Additional Eggnog Notes Cheesecakes Chocolate Prototype 10.1 Prototype 10.2 Prototype 10.3 Prototype 10.4 Prototype 10.5 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Prototype 25 Prototype 26 Eggnog Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Prototype 25 Prototype 26 Prototype 27 Prototype 28 Prototype 29 Prototype 30 Prototype 31 Prototype 32 Prototype 33 Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Maple Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Lemon Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Orange Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Chocolate Peanut Butter Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Banana Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Pumpkin Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Plain Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Prototype 12 Prototype 13 Prototype 14 Prototype 15 Prototype 16 Prototype 17 Prototype 18 Prototype 19 Prototype 20 Prototype 21 Prototype 22 Prototype 23 Prototype 24 Eggnog Pumpkin Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Cookies+Creme Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Prototype 9 Prototype 10 Prototype 11 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Chocolate Eggnog Prototype 1 Vanilla Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Orange Vanilla Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Banana Prototype 1 Prototype 2 S'mores Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Pumpkin Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Whoopie Pie Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Pecan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Marshmallow Prototype 1 Cherry Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Fluffernutter Prototype 1 Dulce De Leche Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Chocolate Cherry Prototype 3 Strawberry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Prototype 6 Prototype 7 Prototype 8 Almond Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Chocolate Strawberry Prototype 1 Chocolate Almond Prototype 1 Neapolitan Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4 Prototype 5 Triple-Plus Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Prototype 1 Blueberry Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Patriotic Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Key Lime Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Cheesecake Tips Pecan Pie Filling Prototype 1 Prototype 2 Cream Cheese Spread Pumpkin Additional Notes Name Change: Bran to HiFi Birthday Gift Replacement of Bran Buds with Regular All-Bran Batter Composition Changes (Mid-2015) Batter Composition Changes (Mid-2017) Update Since COVID-19 (Late-2021) All Recipes & Notes Red Velvet Research Project Preliminary Secondary My 1980's Cheesecake Prototypes Pitfalls to avoid: Unsuccessful recipes

Baked Eggnog Pumpkin Cheesecake—Prototype 1:   This one combines a couple of popular late autumn flavors. It was after doing some backtrack research, including on the third prototype of my combination Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake, that my plans came together for the eggnog-pumpkin combo provided here. The highlights included relatively large amounts of cottage cheese, flour and lemon juice (in many ways similar to the chocolate-peanut butter counterpart). Some adjustments were made to the brown sugar, rum extract and nutmeg as well. In light of my being concerned about the crust being too soggy, I tried a new approach with it—I "pre-baked" it a little, before adding any batter on top.   Eggnog Crust: 1/2 cup (8 oz.) whipped lowfat cottage cheese, no salt added 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon rum extract 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1/4 cup light eggnog 2.2 oz. finely ground Bran Buds Pour (or press) into the pan, getting this crust evenly distributed. Next, refrigerate for about half an hour, or until slightly firm. Afterwards, bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes (no bath at this point—just put the pan directly on the rack), then remove from oven and cool down slightly (until the pan is no longer too hot to the touch—about 5 minutes). Pumpkin Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 4 oz. pumpkin butter 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 cup skim milk 1/2 cup granulated sugar 3/8 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 cups (20 oz.) whipped lowfat cottage cheese, no salt added 2 eggs Turn oven up to 325 degrees. Add the pumpkin batter on top of the crust. Then put the foil on the pan (no earlier—less foil disturbance means less leakage risk) and place into a hot bath. Bake for about 30 minutes. Tip: When handling the pan-foil assembly at this point, lift it by the pan's rim, not by the foil (let the foil cling to the pan's rim—optionally, you can also position your fingers to hold the foil in place, but do not put pressure on it to lift the entire pan—otherwise, the foil may tear). Eggnog Batter: 2 tablespoons butter, softened or melted 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 tablespoon rum extract 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups (20 oz.) whipped lowfat cottage cheese, no salt added 2 cups of light eggnog 7/8 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 2 eggs Carefully scoop this on top of the pumpkin batter, turn oven down to 300 degrees and resume baking for about 100 minutes. When I added the eggnog batter on top of the pumpkin, I was already suspecting a problem. As I scooped the eggnog batter, it seemed to be sinking into the partially-baked pumpkin batter, leading me to reason that a 30-minute head start was too short. Because of this "sinkage" concern, I suspected the eggnog batter to be too dense compared to its pumpkin counterpart (I took a chance, after careful consideration beforehand, on the densities being the other way around). Nevertheless, the batters came out separated (hopefully) the way I intended, at least visually, when the slices were cut. To my surprise, however, I felt that the pumpkin flavor was too weak overall for this combination cheesecake—but the eggnog presence was fine (its strength easily blew away the pumpkin's). Furthermore, despite a total batter cooking time of a record 130 minutes (30 minutes head start for the pumpkin batter, another 100 minutes after adding the eggnog batter), the whole thing turned out what I felt to be too soft (hopefully not runny, but still too limp). Ideas quickly came into my mind for the next prototype. Should I make the crust pumpkin-flavored instead of eggnog? Should I increase the baking time? How about more of a head start for the pumpkin batter? Should I use more flour in both batters? To add more flour would be somewhat tricky, because the overall height of this combo cheesecake was already within about 1/4" of the top of the pan (and this ended up as one heavy cheesecake). Thanks mainly to the two cups of eggnog for the batter, the height of its resulting layer was considerably higher than that of the pumpkin batter's. Still, this combination was another big hit during a November "potluck" at Living Hope Church. Starting with this prototype, I began switching over my flour, from all-purpose to whole white wheat (which has been said to be about as good nutritionally—or at least have about as much fiber—as the more traditional whole red wheat, yet have a taste about as mild as the oh-so familiar all-purpose). All-purpose was actually in the majority for the recipe here, as I simply finished this flour off and then used the whole white wheat to "close the gap". For those who are curious about more details, I went from Pillsbury all-purpose (in my earlier cheesecakes) to King Arthur organic (!) all-purpose (for a small handful of cheesecakes) to King Arthur organic whole white wheat.   Baked Eggnog Pumpkin Cheesecake—Prototype 2:   Yes, switch the crust from eggnog to pumpkin. In fact, increase the pumpkin's batter and reduce the eggnog's, because the eggnog itself has made the height of its respective batter very high in the previous prototype (close to double that of the pumpkin batter). So let's get these layers more balanced. Yes, also increase the baking time for the whole cheesecake, as well as the head start for the pumpkin batter. However, the overall height of this recipe has gotten too close to the top of the pan. So instead of adding more flour, let's see if the increased cooking time can firm up the batter a little (due to batter re-allocation, let's shift some of the flour as well). Add more pumpkin flavor. Exclude the milk from the crust (I probably should have already done this in the first prototype, due to the high amount of cottage cheese there, but I do not think that the idea grasped my mind at that point). Much of the pumpkin-related plans for this prototype is derived from Baked Pumpkin Cheesecake—Prototype 3, while the eggnog batter gets a few small tweaks. Overall, there are quite a few changes. Just follow the directions below.   Pumpkin Crust: 2 oz. melted, white chocolate 2 oz. pumpkin butter (such as from Trader Joe's) 1 cup (8 oz.) whipped lowfat cottage cheese, no salt added 1 teaspoon lemon juice 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 2.2 oz. Bran Buds, ground up Pour (or press) into the pan, refrigerate for about half an hour (at least), then bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes (no bath), then remove from oven and cool to touch. Pumpkin Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 5/8 cup granulated sugar 8 oz. pumpkin butter 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 cup skim milk 1/2 cup flour (whole white wheat, such as King Arthur) 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 cups (24 oz.) whipped lowfat cottage cheese, no salt added 2 eggs Turn oven up to 325 degrees. Add pumpkin batter on top of crust. Put on foil, place into hot bath. Bake for about 40 minutes. Eggnog Batter: 2 tablespoons butter, softened or melted 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon rum extract 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups (16 oz.) whipped lowfat cottage cheese, no salt added 2 cups of light eggnog 3/4 cup flour (whole white wheat, such as King Arthur) 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 2 eggs Carefully scoop this on top of the pumpkin batter, turn oven down to 300 degrees and resume baking for about 120 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 3 hours before removing from pan, then refrigerate (at least for a few hours, allowing the cheesecake to get more firm). This prototype, I feel, came out hopefully a little more firm, but still not as firm as I really wanted. Still, I do not think the cheesecake limped too much. I still had doubts about the eggnog batter staying on top after I scooped it over the pumpkin at the end of its "head start". At least I could taste the pumpkin flavor better this time around. This was still not easy for me to do, probably because my taste buds were losing some sensitivity. But a friend close to my age could pick up both flavors more easily. Maybe I was getting too old. Nevertheless, I felt that I should leave this combination cheesecake unchanged at this point. Maybe someday I'll retry this recipe with more flour if I get a taller cheesecake pan. As usual, this recipe was a big hit at Living Hope.   Baked Eggnog Pumpkin Cheesecake—Prototype 3:   Nearly a year had passed since I prepared Prototype 2 of this cheesecake. For Prototype 3, there would be plenty of changes. Among them would be usage of the 9 1/2" Frieling pan (but would it have enough capacity?) and a blend of yogurt cheese. More specifically, this 2012 update would be largely influenced by the latest pumpkin and eggnog prototypes up to this point (Prototype 5 and Prototype 17, respectively). I also chose to go with a plain crust (same formulation as used in Prototype 10 of my plain cheesecakes, but with the size and pre-bake time doubled). Furthermore, the pumpkin batter would go on top of the eggnog one.   2-to-1 Blend of Yogurt Cheese and Cottage Cheese: Prepare ahead of time 2 pounds of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 32 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine 16 ounces (1 pint) of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese. Crust: 2 oz. melted, white chocolate 1 cup (8 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 2/3 tablespoons brown sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 2.2 oz. Bran Buds, ground up Pour this crust mixture into pan (9 to 9 1/2 inches) and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall. Eggnog Batter: 2 tablespoons butter, softened or melted 2/3 cup granulated sugar 2 cups (16 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/4 cup arrowroot 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon rum extract 2 cups light eggnog 2 eggs Turn oven up to 325 degrees. Add eggnog batter on top of crust. Put on foil, place into hot bath. Bake for about 40 minutes. Pumpkin Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 5/8 cup granulated sugar 3 cups (24 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons arrowroot 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 8 oz. pumpkin butter 2 eggs Carefully scoop this on top of the eggnog batter, turn oven down to 300 degrees and resume baking for about 120 minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan). Then cool down while still in oven (with this oven shut off) and in tub with door slightly ajar for an hour. Afterwards, remove from oven and tub and continue to cool down at room temperature for another 3 hours, then remove from pan and refrigerate (at least for a few hours, allowing the cheesecake to get more firm). Just as I feared, the Frieling pan's height fell short of providing the capacity that I needed for this huge cheesecake (the older pan that I used the previous year, while somewhat smaller in diameter, was considerably taller). But things weren't way too bad. I ended up with about 1/3 of a cup of extra pumpkin batter (perhaps I should have had a cupcake wrapper or two handy). But this was the first time that I maxed out on the 9 1/2" Frieling. 9 1/2" Frieling springform pan, all maxed out. Got height? At least the entire eggnog batter, 16 ounces of eggnog and all, was able to fit (sort of tightly) into one of the smaller (6" diameter) metal mixer bowls that I had, but that was with only 16 ounces of the yogurt-cottage cheese blend (rather than 20 ounces). But that still spared me from having to settle for a much bulkier (at least for the dishwasher), large-sized mixer bowl (about 8 1/4" in diameter). The cheesecake was very delicious, and I was able to pick up both the eggnog and pumpkin flavors (the eggnog more easily). However, it looked like the pumpkin batter sunk lower into, and displaced, quite a bit of the eggnog batter, pushing it upwards. So while the outside of this prototype looked the way that I intended, it was somewhat "marbled" inside, at least in some places. Somebody at Living Hope Church thought that was my intent (maybe it was Eric, i.e., Mary Beth's husband—this is the same couple who gave me some cookie dough from the previous Christmas, and I used that gift to make a chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake). The slices varied, some more "marbled" than others. I served this prototype at this church on the Sunday before Thanksgiving 2012. The gathering in the fellowship hall was not one of those nearly once-every-month-or-two luncheons (read: big dessert competition), but there was still at least a good handful of alternatives (including sweet ones) to my cheesecake. Despite that, Pastor Gene gave me the news probably about 15-20 minutes after my dessert was served. The cheesecake was gone...already (and this was one of my biggest)! This Beverly Nazarene church has been loving my cheesecakes more and more lately. Thank you, all! Living Hope has been my favorite taste test lab for a long time at this point.   Baked Eggnog Pumpkin Cheesecake—Prototype 4:   Flip the two batters—go back to putting the eggnog on top of the pumpkin, just like in the first two prototypes. It seemed like the pumpkin batter was denser than the nog's. Furthermore, reasoning that the pumpkin flavor was somewhat lagging behind, I decided to bump up the pumpkin butter by an extra ounce as well. But what about the excessive amount of batter? Got cupcake wrappers? See below.   2-to-1 Blend of Yogurt Cheese and Cottage Cheese: Prepare ahead of time 2 pounds of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 32 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine 16 ounces (1 pint) of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese. Crust: 2 oz. melted, white chocolate 1 cup (8 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 1/4 cup granulated sugar 2 2/3 tablespoons brown sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 2.2 oz. Bran Buds, ground up Pour this crust mixture into pan (9 to 9 1/2 inches) and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall. Pumpkin Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 5/8 cup granulated sugar 3 cups (24 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons arrowroot 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 9 oz. pumpkin butter 2 eggs Turn oven up to 325 degrees. Add pumpkin batter (all of it) on top of crust. Put on foil, place into hot bath. Bake for about 40 minutes. Eggnog Batter: 2 tablespoons butter, softened or melted 2/3 cup granulated sugar 2 cups (16 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/4 cup arrowroot 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon rum extract 2 cups light eggnog 2 eggs Carefully scoop this on top of the pumpkin batter, filling up the springform pan within its capacity (set aside any remaining eggnog batter). Then turn oven down to 300 degrees and resume baking for about 120 minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan). Next, cool down while still in oven (with this oven shut off) and in tub with door slightly ajar for an hour. Afterwards, remove from oven and tub and continue to cool down at room temperature for another 3 hours, then remove from pan and refrigerate (at least for a few hours, allowing the cheesecake to get more firm). As for any remaining eggnog batter (which will probably not be much), grab a few baking cups, pour the batter into them, bake these cupcake-style eggnog cheesecakes at 300 degrees for about 50 minutes (go ahead, put them in the same oven as the big cheesecake, but don't bother immersing them in a tub), cool for about 50 minutes afterward, chill for a least a few hours—and enjoy! There were some new lessons to be learned from this prototype. Carefully scoop, as much upper batter as you can, onto the lower batter, before "dumping" (or pouring, with greater pressure) the rest of the upper onto the lower. It looks like I took the suspected higher density of the pumpkin batter too much for granted. I started off by scooping small amounts of the eggnog batter until the entire pumpkin surface was coated. Then, because of the oven's heat—and my desire to avoid "baking" my skin—I ditched the scoop and outright poured the remaining destined-for-the-pan (i.e., to capacity) eggnog batter on top. Unfortunately, the deceptively gentle-looking stream of batter burst the pumpkin surface, causing much of it to erupt and float upward. There's got to be a better way—without burning myself! Up to this point, the upper batter layer addition has been done at the oven (rack pulled somewhat forward for easier access), because I felt that pulling the whole assembly out (tub, hot water, springform pan, etc.) would be too much of a hassle (bulky, heavy, big risk of boiling hot water spill). Instead, how about wearing an oven mitt? Too clumsy, I feared—too much risk of dropping the scoop. And I was more used to reaching bare-handedly into the blender's pitcher. I did not want to accidentally touch its inside with a bulky, possibly dirty mitt. Tentative future proposal: Take the whole thing out of the oven anyway, and carefully get it to a comfortable place. With the hot tub water that's a tough task! I would simply have to start off with a shallower bath when beginning the baking with the lower batter layer. After scooping on at least a "safe buffer" amount of the upper batter (but allowing for a safe "anti-spill/carry-back-to-oven" margin from the top of the springform pan) in a comfortable place—and carefully transferring the entire bath assembly back to the oven—I could fill the hot water bath to the max. At that point, I would hopefully also be able to, still with some care (not too fast now!), pour (not scoop at this point) any remaining upper batter to fill the pan, the pitcher being held at its handle at this point by a mitt-covered hand. But would the batter dribble back along the pitcher on me if I poured it too slowly? I would have to be on the lookout for that one. The other lesson learned was that I had enough leftover eggnog batter for 4 cupcakes. One particularly surprising outcome was that despite the amount of changes from the previous prototype among the two batters being supposedly very small, the pumpkin batter greatly exceeded the eggnog on this prototype—whereas the opposite was true in the previous prototype. In other words, the shift between the two batter amounts was much more than I expected (I was anticipating a result much closer to a 50/50 split). Better break out the ruler for next time! This cheesecake fared okay at Living Hope. There was about a quarter of it left. But there were plenty of other refreshments served, particularly pastries, and the crowds were not so big. While I felt that the taste was good, the cheesecake seemed to be too soft. Cutting this one into wedge-shaped slices resulted in too many messy tips. The eggnog batter in particular was too "mooshy". It wasn't that this layer turned out to be badly unstable. But I felt that in the future I should go back to putting the eggnog layer on the bottom and giving it a lot more baking time (perhaps an hour before scooping on the pumpkin). Other considerations: Increase overall cooking? Increase arrowroot (at least for the eggnog batter)? Use a different stabilizer, such as xanthan gum (after all, the "store bought" cream cheeses seemed to typically include this ingredient, often with guar gum and locust bean gum—but not arrowroot)?   Baked Eggnog Pumpkin Cheesecake—Prototype 5:   The outcome of Prototype 1 of my chocolate eggnog cheesecake, plus other cheesecake refinements throughout 2013, would influence the latest eggnog pumpkin prototype presented here.   2-to-1 Blend of Yogurt Cheese and Cottage Cheese: Prepare ahead of time 2 pounds of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 32 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine 16 ounces (1 pint) of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese. Crust: 2 oz. melted, white chocolate 8 oz. (1 cup) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 2 oz. All-Bran, ground up Pour this crust mixture into pan (9 to 9 1/2 inches) and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall. Eggnog Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon rum extract 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups (20 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 cups light eggnog 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 3/8 cup arrowroot 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 2 eggs Wrap the pan in foil, and pour the eggnog batter on top of the crust, no higher than halfway from the crust's surface to the top of the pan (if there is any excess batter, use it to make "cupcakes", baking these at 300 degrees for 50 minutes using a bath arrangement—or use this batter together with a good pancake mix to make pancakes). Then place this pan in a tub—filled only about halfway, or about half an inch, with boiling water. Bake all this at 325 degrees for about 60 minutes. Then take the whole pan-and-tub setup out of the oven, and carefully get it to a comfortable place. Promptly add the pumpkin batter as indicated below. Pumpkin Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups (20 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 7 oz. pumpkin butter 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 1/2 tablespoons arrowroot 2 eggs Carefully scoop this on top of the eggnog batter and return the pan-and-tub setup to oven, this time at only 300 degrees, and add more hot water to the tub (at this point, go ahead and fill it all the way). Bake for about 120 more minutes. Turn oven off, leaving cheesecake in it (still in tub as well), with the door slightly ajar, for another 60 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven and tub and let cool in its pan at room temperature for another 120 minutes. Afterwards, remove cheesecake from pan and refrigerate. The top ended up being very dry and cracked. Note for next time—cut the pumpkin batter's baking time! But this cheesecake went very fast. About 90% of it seemed to be gone in roughly 10 minutes, the rest about half an hour later. It was served among a modest selection of sweets and other snacks at Living Hope.   Baked Eggnog Pumpkin Cheesecake—Prototype 6:   The changes for this December 2014 update are nearly trivial, compared to the previous prototype (just a little more vanilla in the crust and re-adjusted baking times for the two batters).   2-to-1 Blend of Yogurt Cheese and Cottage Cheese: Prepare ahead of time 2 pounds of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 32 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine 16 ounces (1 pint) of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese. Crust: 2 oz. melted, white chocolate 8 oz. (1 cup) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 oz. All-Bran, ground up Pour this crust mixture into pan (9 to 9 1/2 inches) and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 10 minutes, then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall. Eggnog Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon rum extract 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups (20 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 2 cups light eggnog 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 3/8 cup arrowroot 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 2 eggs Wrap the pan in foil, and pour the eggnog batter on top of the crust, no higher than halfway from the crust's surface to the top of the pan (for suggestions on what to do with any excess batter, see Prototype 5 of this cheesecake). Then place this pan in a tub—filled slightly more than halfway, or about 3/4 of an inch, with boiling water. Bake all this at 325 degrees for about 60 minutes. Next, lower the temperature to 300 degrees and continue baking for another 15 minutes. Then take the whole pan-and-tub setup out of the oven, and carefully get it to a comfortable place. Promptly add the pumpkin batter as indicated below. Pumpkin Batter: 2 tablespoons melted or softened butter 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups (20 oz.) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above) 7 oz. pumpkin butter 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 1/2 tablespoons arrowroot 2 eggs Carefully scoop this on top of the eggnog batter and return the pan-and-tub setup to oven, still at 300 degrees, and add more hot water to the tub (at this point, go ahead and fill it all the way). Bake for about 105 more minutes. After that, turn oven off, leaving cheesecake in it (still in tub as well), with the door slightly ajar, for another 60 minutes. Next, remove cheesecake from oven and tub and let cool in its pan at room temperature for another 120 minutes. Afterwards, remove cheesecake from pan and refrigerate. The baking time modifications paid off, as the pumpkin layer's top turned out nicely this time. By the time I reached the fellowship hall at Living Hope Church—roughly 5 minutes after a Sunday morning worship service in late December of 2014 (4 days before Christmas, to be more exact)—there was only about 1/4 of this cheesecake left (it was served among a modest snack selection). All of it ended up being devoured within, what seemed to be to me, about 15 minutes. I was glad—and fortunate enough—to get one delicious slice before the whole thing disappeared.