October 21st is National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day

If you're looking for something to do today then I hope you're not lactose intolerant because it's National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day!

This would be a horrible holiday to miss out on!

So let's get right into celebrating National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day!

Why is this a holiday?

Well, for one, cheesecake is amazing and I could probably round up a hundred people in less than 10 minutes that would agree with that statement, so the popularity is definitely there! But look at the time of year we are currently in... Halloween is coming up and then there's Thanksgiving and Christmas. And what do all those traditional holidays all seem to include? Some kind of pumpkin usage! The pumpkins have been harvested and people are using them anyway, so why not toss them into your cheesecake, right? And trust me; this is a cheesecake worth celebrating!

I'm sure you all know enough about cheesecakes by now, so let's take a look at the wonderful pumpkin. The word has Greek roots, since it started out as pepon (large melon), but the French were like, "Meh, pompon sounds better!" But the British said, "The heck with that!" and called it pumpion. And can you guess what happened when people started colonizing North America? They changed the word again! To what? Pumpkin!

And now the United States produces around 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins every year. I think you're going to have plenty of pumpkin to jam in your cheesecake! And if you live in Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, Illinois or Indiana then you'll probably have the freshest of fresh pumpkins, because those are the biggest pumpkin producing states. And here's an interesting little fact for you: pumpkins produce both male and female flowers.

Let's go pumpkin hunting!

So, how can you celebrate today?

Well, if you're not much of a cook or you don't have a lot of time then you might want to head to a wonderful place called The Cheesecake Factory. Here, I'll even check their site for you to be sure that they have a pumpkin cheesecake on the menu. Ah yes, not only do they have a pumpkin cheesecake, but they also have a pumpkin pecan cheesecake too! There you go; that's one heck of an easy and satisfying way to celebrate today!

But you're more than welcome to make your own cheesecake, just remember that it usually takes a few hours (if not overnight) for a cheesecake to firm back up. That is of course, unless you get some of that ready to eat cheesecake filling and then mix in a little bit of canned pumpkin or pumpkin flavoring. But even if you can't find that, there are a lot of pumpkin cheesecake mixes out there that make it really easy for you.

But if you want a truly delicious and fresh pumpkin cheesecake then you might want to make your own pumpkin purée. All you need to do is slice your pumpkin in half, from top to bottom, cover each half in foil and then bake it at 325 for about an hour. Then take it out, scoop all the "meat" from the shell and then purée it in a blender. And then you'll probably want to opt for a legit cheesecake recipe that requires you to let your cheesecake firm up overnight in the fridge. I'm sorry; the best things are worth waiting for!

Have a great day and enjoy this delicious dessert!