Pecan Pie Cheesecake {Gluten Free}

This Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake is the perfect way to shake up Thanksgiving dessert! It’s has a gluten free pecan and walnut crust with creamy baked vanilla cheesecake, a bourbon pecan pie topping and bourbon brown sugar whipped cream. So delicious, so easy and make ahead! 

Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake - This Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake is the perfect way to shake up Thanksgiving dessert! It's has a gluten free pecan and walnut crust with creamy baked vanilla cheesecake, a bourbon pecan pie topping and bourbon brown sugar whipped cream. So delicious, so easy and make ahead!

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Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays, and we don’t even have it in the UK! But any holiday that is primarily about eating a lot of delicious food and being thankful for all the good in your life is my kind of holiday! There are so many yummy traditional Thanksgiving foods that I love, but the dessert course is always my favourite, shocking I know! Pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, pecan pie… all the pies! I think that’s why it’s so easy to overeat on Thanksgiving, everything is too good, you just have to try a bit of everything! Or is that just me?! 

Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake - This Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake is the perfect way to shake up Thanksgiving dessert! It's has a gluten free pecan and walnut crust with creamy baked vanilla cheesecake, a bourbon pecan pie topping and bourbon brown sugar whipped cream. So delicious, so easy and make ahead!

I am going to be in Atlanta this Thanksgiving so I will actually get to celebrate rather than sit in jealousy here in the UK! And I get to be with my American family for a wonderful holiday, we’re not blood related but they’re my family nonetheless so I am very happy to share any holiday with them. I cannot wait to eat ALL the food with these awesome people, who I haven’t seen in almost two years. That is what I will be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake - This Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake is the perfect way to shake up Thanksgiving dessert! It's has a gluten free pecan and walnut crust with creamy baked vanilla cheesecake, a bourbon pecan pie topping and bourbon brown sugar whipped cream. So delicious, so easy and make ahead!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars - These Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars have a flourless peanut butter cookie base, with a creamy cheesecake loaded with tonnes of peanut butter, and topped with a rich and silky chocolate ganache. These cheesecake bars are so easy to make, and naturally gluten free so no fancy, expensive ingredients are needed! They're a must try!

Love cheesecake? Try these GF Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars!

Like I mentioned, the desserts are one of my favourite parts of Thanksgiving, and you really can’t go wrong with a delicious Pecan Pie! I decided to shake up the traditional Thanksgiving dessert though and make a Pecan Pie Cheesecake! It’s got everything you love about a Pecan Pie, but with added cheesecake goodness. You can’t be mad about that! It has a gluten free crust made up of ground pecans and walnuts, which is super simple, just toast the nuts to intensify the flavours and stick them in a food processor or blender, I used my brand new Vitamix(which I’m very excited about!) and it made it nice and easy work! Next is the thick and creamy vanilla cheesecake, it’s so rich and delicious and the perfect accompaniment to the sticky pecan pie topping, The topping for this Pecan Pie Cheesecake is a really simple, yet delicious, pecan pie filling made on the stove top. It’s a mix of brown sugar, cinnamon, cream, bourbon and pecans – the bourbon really gives it an extra depth of flavour but you can omit it if you’d like it to be alcohol free. And there’s even more bourbon in the whipped cream border – it is a holiday after all (again, you can omit the bourbon if you don’t want booze)!

Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake - This Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake is the perfect way to shake up Thanksgiving dessert! It's has a gluten free pecan and walnut crust with creamy baked vanilla cheesecake, a bourbon pecan pie topping and bourbon brown sugar whipped cream. So delicious, so easy and make ahead!

Sweet Potato Pie Bars

Another twist on a classic Thanksgiving dessert – Sweet Potato Pie Bars

This Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake is totally the perfect dessert to serve this Thanksgiving because it draws on tradition, but it is a little different, you’ll definitely be impressing your dinner guests with this one! It’s also best to make this cheesecake the day before, so it can chill in the fridge overnight to give it its perfect creamy texture, that means your oven is free on the day for all your other delicious dishes! Once it is all baked, stick it in the fridge and then all you have to do on Thanksgiving day is make up the topping which takes about 5 minutes, then smother it on top of the cheesecake, whip up some cream with bourbon and brown sugar and pipe it on. And voila, your Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake is ready to wow!

Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake - This Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake is the perfect way to shake up Thanksgiving dessert! It's has a gluten free pecan and walnut crust with creamy baked vanilla cheesecake, a bourbon pecan pie topping and bourbon brown sugar whipped cream. So delicious, so easy and make ahead!

Pecan Pie Cheesecake {Gluten Free}

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 12

This Gluten Free Pecan Pie Cheesecake is a delicious twist on the classic Thanksgiving dessert

Ingredients

For the crust:

  • 80g (1/2 cup) Pecans
  • 70g (1/2 cup) Walnuts
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • 15g (1 tbsp) Melted butter
  • 1 tbsp golden syrup (or corn syrup)

For the cheesecake:

  • 100g (1/2 cup) white sugar
  • 100g (1/2 packed cup) light brown sugar
  • 1kg (35oz) Cream cheese, room temperature
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
  • 85g (1/3 cup) Greek yogurt

For the topping:

  • 200g (1 cup, packed) light brown sugar
  • 30ml (2 tbsp) golden syrup (or corn syrup)
  • 45ml (3 tbsp) double/heavy cream
  • 45ml (3 tbsp) bourbon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 175g (1.5 cups) toasted pecans, roughly chopped

For the bourbon brown sugar whipped cream:

  • 180ml (3/4 cup) double/heavy cream
  • 15ml (1 tbsp) bourbon
  • 1 tbsp light brown sugar

Instructions

To make the crust:

  1. Preheat your oven to 160C/325F. Line an 8" push pan or springform pan with parchment paper, and lightly grease sides.
  2. Toast the pecans and walnuts in a frying pan on a medium heat, toast for five mins and keep them moving the whole time so they do not burn.
  3. Transfer to your Vitamix/food processor and add the pinch of cinnamon. Pulse until coarsely ground.
  4. Transfer to a small bowl and add the melted butter and golden syrup, stir to coat all the nuts.
  5. Spoon into your prepared tin and use the back of spoon or your fingers to press into the pan until you have an even layer covering the bottom, push up the sides about 1/4"
  6. Bake for 10 minutes, then leave to cool while you make the cheesecake filling.

To make the cheesecake:

  1. Beat the sugars and cream cheese until well combined.
  2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to fully combine after each addition.
  3. Beat in the vanilla and greek yogurt gently so not create too much air.
  4. Pour the cheesecake batter onto the cooled crust
  5. Bake for 60-75 minutes, until the edges are starting to turn golden and the centre is just set. It should still have a good wobble to it, it will continue to cook as it cools.
  6. Leave on a wire rack to cool completely, then chill in the fridge for a minimum of four hours, preferably overnight.

To make the topping:

  1. Toast your roughly chopped pecans as you did for the crust, and set aside.
  2. Put the brown sugar, golden syrup, cream and bourbon into a small saucepan, bring to a gentle boil on a medium heat. Reduce heat and leave to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and cinnamon
  4. Stir in pecans until fully combined.
  5. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and leave to cool completely.

To make the whipped cream:

  1. Put the cream, bourbon and brown sugar in a bowl and whip with an electric hand mixer (or with a hand whisk if you wanna build up your muscles!) and whip until soft peaks form - cream will hold its shape and be fluffy.

To assemble:

  1. Remove the cheesecake from the pan (if you did not so before chilling) and set on your serving plate/stand.
  2. Spoon the pecan pie topping over the top of the cheesecake, leaving a 1/2" border around the edge. Don't be afraid to pile it high!
  3. Spoon the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe large "stars" around the border.
  4. Decorate with extra pecans if you like
  5. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve

Notes

Will keep in the fridge in sealed container for 3 days

What’s your favourite part of Thanksgiving?

31 comments

  1. April J Harris says:

    Love Thanksgiving! We celebrate our Canadian Thanksgiving in October – and then we celebrate US Thanksgiving with our American friends in November! Love this cheesecake – it’s gorgeous and sounds so delicious. Hope you have a fantastic trip to Atlanta and a very Happy Thanksgiving!

  2. Angela says:

    I’d love to try to make this for thanksgiving for my family but not everyone is a fan of nuts. Is it possible to just make the cheesecake and skip the nuts? Especially in the crust. Would it come out okay?

    • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says:

      Hi Angela, you could definitely make this without the nuts, although it will be quite the different cheesecake of course! You can replace the crust with a graham cracker or oreo crust easily (I would sub out the nuts for the cookies at the same weight). As for the pecan pie filling on top, you can keep the saucey part the same and stir in something else that you family likes – perhaps dried fruits, or cookie pieces, honeycomb pieces, another nut that your family likes. The possibilities are endless really! You could also stir in chocolate chunks/chips but would need to let the sauce cool down quite a lot (but not completely so it is still liquid enough) so the chocolate doesn’t melt.

      Would love to hear what you go with and how it turns out!

    • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says:

      I wouldn’t recommend making it more than two or three days in advance, but would leave the cream border until a day before max! (You can do the rest of the cheesecake 2-3 days ahead, then whip up the cream the night before or the morning of). The cheesecake won’t keep for much more than three days though, so make sure everyone eats it all up haha!

      • Kayla says:

        Perfect!! Thanks so much for the speedy response. My family is so excited to try your recipe so I doubt we will have any leftovers.?

  3. Christine says:

    I’m totally GF not by choice .I have Evey Cheese Cake recipe in the world including mine that isn’t gf but was pretty easy to change .It calls for 5 .8 ozs ofcream cheese and 5 whole eggs and 3 only holes for starters so it’s a bit pricey to make . After finding your recipe I doubt I will ever make mine again . Yours rocks! I think I will use Kahlua though . What are your thoughts on that ? Mine may be good but your is awesome ? so happy I found you , and most importantly your recipes are so easy to follow I don’t feel like I need to be a pastry chef to fix them but the great things is it sure taste. Like I have a degree.? your awesome and I wish you all the sucess in the world with what ever you reach for .When you can’t eat anything you wish any longer 15 years now and you find things this wonderful most people haven’t a clue what a simple easy to fix cheese ? will do for you ? that taste like you had to go to NY. City to get! After a few years of being gf I just couldn’t stand it I got off work went in grocery store and got a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts OMG I miss them my favorite thing in the world .. yes I ate almost all them .I left two in the box that’s how I got caught… Lol my daughter asked why is there a box of doughnuts in the car. I told her someone gave them to me . Well I’m not a good liar and paid for it dealy! Already have a problem to this day gaining my regular weight back of 97 lbs all my life .I lost 13 lbs and was sick for months . Never again .. so yes I’m so very thankful for you .. still learning to cook gf. 15 years ago we had nothing and have came so so far thanks to wonderful people like you who share with us … With the warmest regards and best wishes with your site, you’re an ?

    • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says:

      Hi Christine! Thank you so much!
      Kahlua would be awesome I think, would love to hear how that turns out if you give it a go! I love Kahlua.

      I struggle with temptation too, hard to resist those doughnuts sometimes! I’m in the process of developing a GF doughnut recipe this weekend though so fingers crossed!

      • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says:

        Hi Heidi,

        Thank you for your concern regarding the alcohol in this recipe! However, due to the distilling process involved in making spirits and liqueurs they are actually gluten free (even spirits such as bourbon and malt whiskey, which are distilled from wheat and barley).The Coeliac Society in the UK and the Celiac Disease Society in the US both list spirits and liqueurs as safe. Obviously, everybody is different so if you find you react in a negative way to some spirits, obviously you should omit them from any recipes and not drink them.

        I’m linking to some sources that I’m sure you’ll consider a lot more reliable than me for your information:
        https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vodka-be-marketed-as-gluten-free/
        https://www.coeliac.org.uk/gluten-free-diet-and-lifestyle/keeping-healthy/alcohol/
        https://celiac.org/live-gluten-free/glutenfreediet/food-options/

        Hope this helps!

        • Debra says:

          I know I’m a bit late chiming in, but it’s not just the gluten that causes an issue for us with celiac, it’s the underlying gluten producing grains we’re allergic to. Distilling might reduce some or most of the gluten, like filtering caffeine out of coffee, but the grain (typically barley, rye, or wheat), and the coffee by the way, is still there.. Even where typically safe corn is used, unless otherwise stated, distillers, for flavor, still combine with a “bad” grain or distill in a barrel where an offending grain was used. There are options such as rum or brandy that should provide just the flavor hit you’re looking for (although ALL should be verified through the specific distiller or distributor to be sure nothing bad crossed paths), but this as is stated isn’t safe. So it’s important to make note that bourbon, and this recipe as stated, contains barley, rye, or wheat.. Note too that it’s easy to correct by entering the recipe as is and adding the phrase “recipe includes GF options” with a footnote. I am an unintended expert. I trusted a friend who trusted a recipe for bread made with “gluten free” beer, but later (too late), discovered the beer base was barley. I developed such extreme GERD in response, I damaged my esophagus and developed esophageal asthma ; I had to sleep sitting for 6 weeks. There is more, but I think that’s enough to make a point that it’s not just an upset stomach … it’s very long term with potentially deadly changes to our bodies. I know you’re just trying to get your lovely and visually yummy recipes to the masses, and although I know, from experience, just what to tweak to make it safe for me and my family, I’m just asking for Pinterest bloggers to be careful and remember your audience is depending on you to be the expert when you opt to deal in recipes that address allergies.

          • Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe says:

            Hi Debra,

            I appreciate your comments and concern. Coeliac UK states grain spirits as safe for people with coeliac as distilling does remove all traces of gluten. However, everybody reacts differently to different things and readers should be adjusted any recipes according to what is right for them.

            My blog is a recipe blog, not a medical blog, and should be treated as such. My readers should definitely not trust me, or any other blogger, as an expert as I am not one – I am a baker. I would trust my readers to judge for themselves whether my recipe is safe for them or not.

            I do hope however that any concerned readers may find your comment useful when deciding if this recipe is safe for their particular needs or not.

            Happy (GF) baking!

  4. Yen says:

    Late to this post. Lol
    Buuuut wondering if you think i can mix the topping in with one of those no bake cheesecake parfait cups. Single serve
    So maybe gently mix it in

    • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says:

      Hi Melissa,

      I would add a little more pecans/walnuts to the crust mixture, about 1tbsp of each, just to ensure the you have enough to cover the whole pan. You won’t need to make any adjustments to the cheesecake and topping recipe, your cheesecake will just be a little thinner (made up for the fact you’ll get more slices!), but it will probably need less baking time, check the cheesecake at around 50 mins and then every 5-7 minutes following that depending on how “done” it looks at the 50 minute mark. Remember, it’s ready when the centre is just set and still has a good wobble to it!

      Happy baking!

    • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says:

      Hi Donna,
      It should be quite thick, and essentially not be too spreadable, however it shouldn’t be hard and it should naturally “fall” when you pile it on. So if that’s not happening and you can’t get it on the cheesecake, I’d suggest putting the mixture back on the heat and warming it up again, then add 1/4 cup extra brown sugar and another tbsp each of cream and golden syrup (or corn syrup if that’s what you’re using) and heat until that sugar has melted – this will give the mixture more liquid and make it easier to spread. It may be that it got “cooked” too much so the “liquid” part thickened too much, heat can be a tricky thing to predict sometimes!

      Let it cool down before adding it to the cheesecake, but if you’re worried it may go too thick, spoon it on the cheesecake while it’s still warm (i.e. warm but cool enough for you to essentially stick your finger in it without burning it – so it doesn’t melt the cheesecake!).

      Hope that helps and obviously let me know if you have any more problems.

  5. PeterD says:

    Made this recently!
    Stunning!
    My only two suggestions are that the whipped cream is probably overkill, and the recipe desperately needs salt, in the pecan topping is the best place I reckon.
    Excited to make it again one day 😀

    • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says:

      Hi Peter!

      Thanks so much for your feedback, I’m so glad you liked it!

      I, of course, love the bourbon whipped cream – I’m all about as much indulgence as I can squeeze in! But it is a very yummy dessert without it too!

      Salt would be a great addition to the pecan topping and/or the crust for sure!

      Thanks again!

  6. SisterG says:

    Hi, i’m just wondering what i could substitute for the Bourbon since i might be making this for a family and i don’t think they want the kids to have that. Any ideas appreciated, thanks so much. 🙂

    • Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake says:

      Hey,

      You can definitely sub the bourbon. For the pecan pie topping mixture, I recommend replacing with some fresh orange juice (same quantity as what it says for bourbon). For the whipped cream, omit the bourbon and add 1 tsp of vanilla extract

      Happy baking!

  7. Natalie says:

    I have no words for this. I have never, ever liked pecan pie because of the overwhelming, sickly sweetness of the whole mess and little in the way of actual flavor. But my daughter loves it and she thinks she could live off cheesecake, so this recipe is perfect to take to her house for Thanksgiving. I made the topping using the original ingredients after finally tracking down the golden syrup and double cream. It knocked my socks off! If pecan pie had always tasted like this, I’d have been a big fan, too. Can’t wait to assemble the cheesecake and serve this tomorrow. That is, if I can keep from eating the pecan pie topping! You did a great job on this recipe. Thank you!

  8. Amber Kimbrel says:

    Omg this was such a hit!! I absolutely LOVE it! I took a tip from one of your commenters and added a little salt to the sauce, as well as a little white sugar to the whipped cream. Yummmmmmm. How do I share a pic with you?

    • Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe says:

      I’m so glad to hear that! Adding salt sounds like a great idea – I will definitely try that next time

      Do you have instagram? If so, you can share a pic on there and tag @atipsygiraffe
      Otherwise pop me an email at giraffescanbake (@) gmail (.) com (apologies for how i’ve displayed the email – this helps to stop bots scraping my email and sending me tonnes of spam!

      Hope you have a safe and lovely festive season ahead!

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