Gluten Free No Bake Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake Recipe
Hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen…. the Holidays are right around the corner! The need for quick go-to gluten free recipes for desserts abound with an increase in special family meals, entertaining and pot luck parties. Not to worry, I have your back with this gluten free no bake pumpkin praline cheesecake recipe. Seriously, this cheesecake is so quick and easy that even the busiest, most baking challenged person in the universe has no excuse to skip dessert. Oh, and did I mention that it tastes divine? And that it has the appropriate amount of “WOW factor” required for the Holidays?
If you happen to be a person who has hours upon hours to spend roasting pumpkins, making homemade gluten free graham crackers and churning your own butter then you might want to just skip on to other gluten free recipes. If, however, you are like the rest of the planet who realizes there are times when using great convenience products like Kinnikinnick’s gluten free graham style crumbs (thank you Kinnikinnick) and canned pumpkins are not only OK but necessary (hello… Holidays!) then by all means read on and enjoy!
Since the Holidays are jam packed with calories as well as fun festivities, I make my version a bit on the lighter side by using light whipped topping (aka Lite Cool Whip) and low fat cream cheese but if that isn’t an issue then go for it and use real whipped cream and full fat cream cheese.
Note: I updated this recipe on 9/11/12 due to a comment from a reader, I tried her suggestion for adjusting the topping ingredient amounts and have to agree, it works better. I DO listen to you!
Gluten Free No Bake Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
Topping
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar , packed
Crust
- 2 ½ cups gluten free graham style crumbs
- 1/3 cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter – melted
Filling
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (low fat or regular) – at room temperature
- 1 (15 ounce) can pure pumpkin (do not use pumpkin pie filling)
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream , whipped to medium peaks with 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar OR 1 - 8 ounce container whipped topping (regular, low fat or fat free) - thawed (do not add the 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar if using whipped topping)
Instructions
- Prepare the topping. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or piece of parchment paper. Melt the 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pecans, salt and brown sugar and stir well. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour the coated nuts onto the prepared baking sheet in a single layer and refrigerate until cooled, about 10 minutes.
- Spray a 9 inch springform with gluten-free non-stick cooking spray and line the bottom with a piece of parchment or waxed paper. Spray the paper with some more cooking spray. Combine the crust ingredients, mix well and press firmly into the prepared springform covering the bottom and going up the sides of the springform.
- Beat the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth. Add the pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt and sugar and beat on medium speed until combined, scraping the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl at least once. With a spatula, fold in the whipped cream or whipped topping until no longer streaky. Pour into the crust.
- Scrape the nuts off the pan with a spatula and top the cheesecake.
- Refrigerate the cheesecake for 3 hours or up to 24 hours. Store leftovers in the fridge.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe? Give it a star rating and let us know your thoughts in the Ratings & Reviews section below.
Absolutely stunning! I used to love, love cheesecakes (well, I still do, only w/o the cheese!) so I can just imagine how light and fluffy this tastes. Mmmm! :)
Thanks Ricki – I am thinking this could easily be made with began “cream cheese” and coconut cream :)
You had me drooling with the mouthwatering picture! YUM!!!
Thank you Lauren!
I love holiday baking, and I almost always make at least one cheesecake! this looks SO good!
This was a trial run – I am making this for my cheesecake loving son this Thanksgivig. He doesn’t like pie or cake but LOVES cheesecake. Thanks for stopping by!
Picture perfection for sure. I you put this cheesecake in front of me right now, I’d be having a piece for breakfast. The heavy whipping cream version would be my choice or maybe made with full-fat coconut milk. Divine, Carol!
xo,
Shirley
Thank you Shirley – as I told Ricki I think it would just great with df cream cheese and coconut cream. I would have thought the full fat version would be my fav but I actually like the Cool Whip version better (shhh – don’t tell the Foodie Police!). xo,c
This looks (and sounds) amazing. I love cream cheese! Mix it with pumpkin and I’m on cloud nine. I will definitely be saving this recipe for the holidays. Plus, it seems like an easy one to pull off in the midst of all the hectic activity. I’m sending my cheesecake loving daughter over here to snag this recipe. She lives in NYC, has celiac disease and is into easy (but fancy) food!
Melissa
Thanks Melissa – this recipe is certainly easy and pretty fancy too :)
Looks wonderful! I was trying to decide on a dessert for a dinner party this weekend–now I know what I’ll be making. Thanks, Nancy
This looks amazing Silvana! I’ve got pot pie on my list to trial this year. I’m a virgin savory “pie” baker :)
Okay, what a dork! I had both Silvana’s post and yours open at the same time Carol and was stumbling both, but commented the wrong comments on each post. Oops! Anyway, this pie looks fabulous too Carol! Just shared it :)
Hahaha!!! OK – best laugh of the day and THANK YOU!!! xo, c
Carol This looks absolutely amazing! The praline topping just does it for me. Never thought I needed a springform pan, until now. Must go and buy one. I can make this for our gluten-free siblings (three of us now) Christmas party and impress them all.
Oh yes, Elsie – everyone needs a springform pan :) Enjoy!
Forgot to ask. How high up the sides should the crust go?
I go almost to the top rim – maybe 1/2 inch from the top. I like to have the pie encased in crust.
Thanks Carol, I also prefer that the crust be at least as high as the filling. Much neater!
Yes Elsie, that works wonderfully well also! Thanks for adding great input!
Yum! I would absolutely welcome this at my holiday table :)
Thanks Cara!
I just made this delightful dessert. Now I am wondering if I can freeze it until Thanksgiving. What do you think?
I think that you can because they sell frozen cheesecake – right? I can’t think of anything in it that would not freeze well.
This recipe turned out really well, except for the topping. It had waaay too much butter. I think 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1/4 cup of brown sugar would have been more appropriate. My pecans were dripping in the 4 Tablespoons of butter that were called for in the topping. The filling, however, was excellent!!
Hi Mollie – I do actually make each recipe. I am going to have another go at this recipe with your comments in mind.Thank you for your feed back!
Hi Mollie, I tried making the topping your way and agree, it’s better! Thank you.
For real, the butter in the topping is too much. Have you even made this recipe as it is listed here? A change should be made, regardless of whether you want to post my comment or not.
Hi Mollie – I do post all comments sometimes I am not atthe computer right away so there is a lag but I think it is important for readers to get all the feed back not just the positive. Thank you!
Hey Carol!
Just wanted to let you know this is a big hit with my family. Making it again tonight. I do use less butter with the pecans but I always alter my favorite recipes the more I make them.
Thanks for an awesome website!
Yay! So happy you liked and I am excatly the same way – I must tinker! Thank you!!!
Hi Carol,
Just made this recipe for an early Thanksgiving dinner we’re having. It says 1tbs of butter on the list of ingredients for the pecans, and then in the directions says 4tbs. I didn’t think that was correct, so I just did the 1tbs and it came out great. Just put it in the fridge for dinner later this evening…can’t wait to see how it comes out…Thanks for your recipes, it’s made this Thanksgiving much easier having GF substitutions for our fave Tday trimmings!! ;)
Hi Christine – your right! I changed the recipe because a commenter suggested the topping was too buttery at first. I made again and had to agree with her. I just forgot to change the text in the directions of the recipe – thanks for pointing this out. Off to change it now! You are very, very welcome! Enjoy your Thanksgiving.
Hi, if I wanted to use pumpkin pie spice instead of the seperate spices, how much would I use? Thanks. Can’t wait to try this!
Yes, no problem! Happy Thanksgiving!
I made this recipe using GF ginger snaps instead of the breadcrumbs. I just had to crush up the ginger snaps, but that crust was DELICIOUS. Wow.
I should also mention that instead of using the springform pan, I used 2 pie tins. I made one GF and one non-GF (so I didn’t have enough to make 2 pie crusts). The ginger snap crust was a huge hit and the normal graham cracker crust just didn’t have the same wow factor.
What an awesome change up of the recipe! Love it. Happy your guests enjoyed it too!
Just made this recipe for Thanksgiving is was amazing!!! Everyone LOVED it. I did however substitute the gluten free ingredients for regular ingredients. Thank you for such a great recipe.
Yay!! I’m happy it was loved! Your so welcome, and thank you Mandy!
xo,
Carol
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