Alan Davidson, author of the Oxford Companion to Food, wrote that, “cheesecake was mentioned in Marcus Porcius Cato’s De re Rustica around 200 BCE and that Cato described making his cheese libum (cake) with results very similar to modern cheesecake.”

The Romans spread cheesecake from Greece to across Europe. Centuries later cheesecake appeared in America, the recipes brought over by immigrants.

Here’s a yummy Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe:

What You Need

18 PEEK FREANS Ginger Crisps (1 sleeve), crushed

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 pkg. (250 g each) PHILADELPHIA Brick Cream Cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Make It

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine cookie crumbs, pecans and butter. Press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

Beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup of the sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Remove 1 cup plain batter; place in small bowl.

Stir remaining 1/4 cup sugar, pumpkin and spices into remaining batter. Spoon pumpkin batter into crust; top with spoonfuls of reserved plain batter. Cut through batters with knife several times for marble effect.

Bake 45 min. or until centre is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Cut into 12 slices. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.