The main reason I wanted to make this tart is to use my tart pan, which I bought to make a grape tart when we had extra grapes from a friend. It took me an hour to take the skins off the grapes. Then, when the tart was finally done, nobody liked it except me. Of course, it didn't occur to me that nobody else was eating it until I took the last piece and realized I had single handedly eaten the whole thing. By myself. Ooops.

But we all like this one. I think traditional pumpkin pie made with organic pumpkin from Whole Foods--it does make a difference-- and whole milk still prevails, but this is a nice twist, what with the cream cheese in it. I have been listening to Ya-Yas in Bloom by Rebecca Wells, so forgive me if I drawl in this post. The narrator's Southern accent is stuck in my head.

Velvety Pumpkin Tart

For the crust:

1 cup gingersnap crumbs (from 20 snaps. I ground them in my food processor. You could also use a blender)

1 T. sugar

3 T. butter, melted

For the fillling:

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 c. canned, solid-packed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/4 t. table salt

1 large egg (use a good brand)

1 large egg yolk

1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 350. Get out your 9.5 inch tart pan with a removable bottom.

2. Make the crust:

In a medium bowl, combine the gingersnap crumbs and sugar. Stir until well blended. Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs and mix with a fork until evenly moistened and well blended.

Dump the crumbs in your tart pan. cover with plastic wrap and mush the crumbs around the bottom and edges of your pan. The plastic wrap keeps your hands clean. Remove the plastic wrap when you're done.

Bake the crust until it is slight darker, almost 10 minutes. Prepare the filling while it bakes. If the crust is done before you are, take it out of the oven after 10 minutes and put it on a cooling rack.

3. Reduce the oven temp. to 300.

4. Make the filling:

Combine cream cheese and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand-held mixer on medium speed until it looks smooth and creamy. Add the pumpkin, cinn., nutmeg, salt, and cloves and beat until well blended. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat until just incorporated.

5. Dump the filling into your baked crust. Pop the whole shebang into the oven and bake until the filling barely jiggles when the pan is nudged, about 30-35 minutes. Tranfer the pand to a rack and let cool completely. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours or so. (Now, if you're impatient like me and you live in snow country, cool the tart on your deck outside to speed things up. And if you think you'll die if you don't have a piece of it sooner than three hours, pop it in the freezer for awhile. Serve with REAL whipped cream (recipe to follow).

•This recipe came from The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge