Pumpkin Cheesecake Ecstasy #SmartFinalSupportsSoCalSchools

What is Thanksgiving without some sort of a pumpkin dessert?  And what is giving thanks really all about?  For us it's about neighborly love.  So why not combine the two and give pumpkin desserts to neighbors, just because it's the season!

Kristi's sister-in-law's best friend has this incredible recipe called "Ecstasy Cheesecake".  Apparently it's THAT good.  She only makes it on Thanksgiving and it really is a trip ;)

We shopped our local Smart and Final for recipe needs.  Of course they had everything we needed.

We walked in and the bright red signs made it SO easy to find everything.  Our mom shopped S&F weekly when we were kids, it was the most affordable store for our busy mom of 9...yes you read that right, 9 children!  We hadn't been here lately as adults so it was fun to reminisce and grab extra goods for our personal lives (:

Uh...does anyone else get too excited when you spy a coupon on something you're buying anyway?? What?-no? I'm the only dork?? Haha!  $0.30 off whoohoo!-AND they're $1.10 cheaper than the "name brand" butter=score!

Hmmm...see the to-go containers?  Those would be a great size for multiple cheesecakes for neighbors, just the perfect size for a family of 4!  We both laughed at loud seeing the ginormous popcorn bags...our mom would sneak that into movies to save money back in the day!

Why isn't Kristi in any of these pics?  See the cute pumpkins tins?-we contemplated those instead but figured the First Street containers would be a cheaper option, more bang for your buck!  A 10 pk versus a 2 pk for $1...no thanks!


We're so excited to deliver our neighbor goods, hopefully they'll be thankful they live next to us ;)

Here is the recipe you won't want to lose:

Ingredients:

2 c. flour

1 c. First Street unsalted butter, softened

1 c. pecans

2 (8 oz) pkgs. cream cheese, softenend

5 c. whipped topping, thawed

2 c. confectioners sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 (3.5 oz) pkgs. instant vanilla pudding mix

1/2 c. milk

3 c. pumpkin

4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. In a med mixing bowl, combine flour.butter.1 c. chopped pecans. Beat until thoroughly combined. Press mixture into to-go containers.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 mins, set aside to cool.

4. In a med mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, 2 c. whipped cream, confectioners sugar, vanilla.  Beat until smooth then spread even over cooled crust.

5.  In a large mixing bowl, combine pudding, milk, pumpkin, spice + 2 more c. of whipped cream.  Stir until thoroughly combined.  Spoon mixture over cream cheese layer.  
6.  Top with remaining 1 c. of whipped cream.  Sprinkle with 1/2 c. chopped pecans (optional).  Chill 1 hour in fridge before serving.

First Street items used:

First Street Unsalted Butter 4 square  

First Street Round Containers {6.75 size}

*See all products.

Now go WOW your neighbors ;)

Speaking of Smart & Final, they've teamed up with the California Milk Advisory Board "Help Our Teachers, Help Our Kids" promotion.  Having 4 kids myself and being the Vice President of their PTA at their own school, I was excited to help spread the word!

Students & families can collect Real California milk seals from select First Street products sold exclusively at Smart & Final.  Then their teacher simply submits the seals. Each seal counts as one sweepstakes entry. Teachers who submit 100 seals get 25 Scholastic books or $25 school supply gift card. Each teacher entrant gets one Scholastic book.


The California Milk Advisory Board is going to announce winners in February, BUT Smart & Final is so awesome that they're doing a separate sweepstakes! Entrants who go to FirstStreetSupportsSoCalSchools.com and tell why their Southern Californa school should win will be entered to win $500, $300 or $200 to be donate to the school of their choice EVERY MONTH! That's right, there will be a total of NINE winners, 3 per month, from those that enter at the site!

Be sure to visit Smart & Final on Facebook + Tweet along with them too: @SmartFinal to stay up to date!

This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #CBias  #collectivebias.  However, we REALLY do love cheesecake, our neighbors and Smart + Final too!  All opinions are our very own.