Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:

1 3/4 cups crushed gingersnaps (I made my favorite molasses cookies and they were great)

6 T butter, melted

3/4 cup pecans

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Press into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan.

Filling:

3 (8oz) blocks of cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup white chocolate chips, melted

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cloves

Topping:

Sweetened whipped cream

Caramelized pecans

Caramel sauce

Preheat your oven to 350. Wrap your sprinform pan with two pieces of foil. Combine crust ingredients and press into pan. In mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Slowly add in the sugar. When well combined, add the eggs, pumpkin, vanilla and spices. Melt chocolate in microwave. With the mixer running pour or spoon melted chocolate in a steady stream into cream cheese mixture. Pour on top of crust. Place the springform pan into a larger pan (I used my roasting pan. I also placed my pan into an oven bag with the side pulled up about half way up the springform pan.) Fill the larger pan to middle of your springform pan with hot water. (Am I making any sense? We are doing a water bath here. If you don't know what I am talking about see the pictures and suggestions here) Bake 60-75 minutes. The center should be set: still jiggly, think firm jello. Remove from oven and water bath to cooling rack and let cool completely. Put in fridge for at least 12 hours. When ready to serve, remove outside of pan, top with whipped cream, caramelized pecans and caramel sauce.

Recipe source:

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My Notes:

This was my first ever baked cheesecake and it turned out great. I lined my pan with foil and the oven bag because I was afraid it would leak and I didn't want a soggy crust. I thought it better to be safe than sorry. A note about mixing the filling: you do NOT want to overmix cheesecake filling. Having too much air in the mixture causes it to rise during baking and fall during cooling, leaving a monster sized crack in the middle. You want to mix it well, just not beat it too much. Also, if you are not a white chocolate lover, that is not the dominant taste in this cheesecake. The white chocolate just adds richness and depth. Try it! It is yummy!!