Everyone has probably heard of Etsy.com by now (your place to buy and sell all things handmade) but what you might not know is that they host Monday Craft Night everyweek at the Etsy Labs in Brooklyn. Such a great idea. Every Monday there is a theme and anyone of all ages and both gender can show up to participate and supplies are, well, supplied. I was a first-timer today and the theme was “Recipe Slam and Community Cookbook Craft Night” hosted by Sweet Tooth of the Tiger. They sold goodies for a dollar each…and I actually got two cupcakes for a dollar because mine were tiny. About five seconds after I paid for them though, I dropped one on the floor. Boo hiss. But the one that I did get to savor was super delish.

So everyone who participated was asked to bring or email their favorite recipe before they came so that they could be photocopied/printed out and cut into pages so that we each could put together and bind our own recipe books. I’m kind of a veteran at bookmaking so that craft was pretty easy but I was a bit of a wuss when it came to poking holes through the pages with the thick needle because the last time I made a book it was in a car on the way from Lynchburg to Roanoke for a friend who was moving to Hawaii and I poked the needle through too hard that it went through my finger. And I had to pull it out. And I felt every part of it coming back out. And it wasn’t just a normal thin sewing needle, it was one of those thicker crafting ones. I got so nauseated Jeff had to pull over and give me some time to calm down. I don’t do too well with injuries.

So I submitted the recipe that I got from a co-worker when I worked at The Roanoke Times for Pumpkin Cheesecake. Yummy in my tummy. I’m actually going to be making two of these on Wednesday. Who says it has to be November or Thanksgiving to eat anything pumpkin?

Here’s the recipe if you’re interested:

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz brick of CREAM CHEESE (softened)

1/4 cup of SUGAR

1 EGG

2/3 cup of PUREED CANNED PUMPKIN

3/4 tsp. CINNAMON

1/4 tsp. GROUND CLOVE

GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST (or Pillsbury Roll-Out Crust if you prefer)

Optional: 1 tsp VANILLA, 1/4 tsp ALLSPICE and a dash of NUTMEG.

(I always throw in the “optional” but it’s optional if you feel the cream cheese overpowers the pumpkin—depends on your taste)

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees

Beat cream cheese, egg and sugar in mixing bowl

Blend all dry ingredients in seperate bowl then add cream cheese mixture.

Add pumpkin and beat until all is well blended.

Take small tastes and add more pumpkin, spices, whatever, as pleased.

Pour in crust and bake for 40 MINUTES or until knife/toothpick comes out clean.

***

I’m copying this from the recipe I emailed to them and noticed that I typed “back” instead of “bake.” Whoops.

Oh, and we stenciled our own tote bags too.

If you’re looking for a gift for a lady friend anytime soon, do visit my good friend, Nguyen’s shop: KnitKnit.etsy.com. She’s a very lovely crafter, awesome knitter and her necklaces are selling like hot-cakes. She was also my date for tonight’s craft night. Who I made wait like an hour because after I got out of the subway I walked 45 minutes in the wrong direction and refused to ask for help because I kept getting into shadier places the further I went. At least now I know where I don’t want to explore.

Hooray!