Carrot Cheesecake

I drove to Grinnell Saturday. Roger was in the garden — the garden that is his whole world now, the 83-year-old man who tends six tomato plants and twelve sunflowers with the same care he once gave four hundred acres. He's slower but he's still Roger. He still watches the crop reports. He still calls Jack on Wednesdays.

I made pot roast with more carrots this week — the fall version, the one that fills the kitchen with the smell that means this time of year, this stage of life, this specific Tuesday when the stove is warm and the family is fed and the feeding is the point. Kevin ate seconds. The man always eats seconds. The eating is the approval and the approval is the marriage.

The trees along the highway are turning — maples red, oaks gold, the Bradford pears doing their useless purple thing. Iowa falls are short and violent and beautiful. The kitchen shifts to slow mode: crockpots, Dutch ovens, the oven at 375 from September through April. The fall cooking is the cooking of a woman settling in for the long season.

I’d already put carrots in everything this week — the pot roast, a side dish I threw together Tuesday, a soup I didn’t bother naming — and when I was thinking about what to bring to close out that Saturday with Roger, carrot cheesecake landed like it was obvious. It’s the kind of recipe that belongs to this time of year, to the oven that doesn’t go cold from September through April, to a kitchen that is doing what a kitchen is supposed to do. It tastes like fall and it takes patience, and right now I have both.

Prep Time: 30 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 10 min | Total Time: 5 hrs (includes chilling) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots (about 3 medium carrots)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Instructions

Prepare the crust. Preheat oven to 325°F. Mix graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter until combined. Press firmly into the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then let cool.
Make the filling. Beat cream cheese and 1 cup sugar together on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing on low after each addition. Add vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves and mix to combine.
Fold in carrots. Stir in sour cream and flour until just incorporated. Fold in grated carrots by hand, distributing evenly throughout the batter.
Bake. Pour filling over the cooled crust. Bake at 325°F for 55–65 minutes, until the edges are set and the center jiggles only slightly. Turn off the oven and crack the door; let the cheesecake rest inside for 1 hour.
Chill. Remove from oven and run a thin knife around the edge to loosen. Cool completely at room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight before slicing.
Serve. Release the springform ring and slice with a sharp knife, wiping clean between cuts. Serve plain or topped with a dollop of whipped cream and a pinch of cinnamon.

Nutrition (per serving)

Carrot Cheesecake — The Sweet End to a Long Iowa Fall Day