Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! I would like to share the dessert that I made for my family's gathering. This cheesecake is a rich twist on classic pumpkin pie. It is quick to prepare and dresses up nicely, which makes it a great choice to make for holiday parties.

Springform pans make unmolding cheesecakes a breeze; however, the bottom of the pan can still be difficult to pry off. Some cheesecake recipes will tell you to leave on the base plate and serve the cake directly on it. I've never liked doing this since the cake on the metal base tends to slide around on the serving platter, not to mention that slicing the cake with a knife can damage the base. My solution is to cut out a circle of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan before building the crust. To do this, simply place the pan your using on a sheet of parchment, draw a circle with a pen and cut just inside of the line. After the cheesecake has baked and unmolded from the pan, just grab an edge of the parchment circle and gently pull until the cheesecake slides off of the base plate. You can then slide it directly onto a platter and gently tug the parchment further to completely remove it.

If you have a food processor, go ahead and toss in the ginger snaps and process the cookies until they're turned into fine crumbs. Then you can add in the melted butter, pulse a few more times until the crumbs turn wet-looking and start to stick together. If you don't have a food processor, put the ginger snaps into a gallon Ziploc bag and beat the living daylights out of the cookies with  rolling pin until crumbs form, then transfer to a bowl and manually mix in the melted butter. Use your hands to press the crumbs up the sides and on the bottom of the prepared springform pan.

Remember to leave out your cream cheese at least an hour before you start making the cake! I took the blocks out of their packaging, stacked them on a small plate, and shut them in the microwave to keep prying kitty noses at bay. If you forget, or your blocks still feel cold when it comes time to make the cheesecake batter, give them a spin in the microwave on high for about 15 seconds. The softened cream cheese will help your batter to be smooth and creamy.

After mixing all of the ingredients together, gently pour the batter into the ginger snap crust and use a rubber spatula to smooth out the top. The cake takes over an hour to bake, so this is a good recipe to start before doing anything else in the kitchen. When it's finished, the top of the cheesecake might be puffed up like the top of a soufflé- Don't worry, it will deflate as it cools.

Make sure to chill the cheesecake at least the full four hours as it says in the recipe. This is a crucial step for any cheesecake sot hat is has a chance to fully set after baking. Once it's finished chilling, use a large knife to cut slices, wiping the knife clean in between cuts to keep each one neat and clean. Serve each slice with sweetened whipped cream or mound the whipped cream over the entire cheesecake ahead of time.

Travel Tip: Keep the cheesecake in the springform pan and unmold at your destination to prevent damage to the cake during transit.


Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 50 Ginger Snaps, finely crushed (about 2 cups)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line bottom of 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper.

Mix together ginger snap crumps and butter, and press onto bottom and halfway up the sides of prepared springform pan.

Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add pumpkin, spice, and vanilla; mix well, stopping the mixer and scraping sides of bowl with a rubber spatula every so often. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour into crust.

Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until center is almost set. Let cake cool in pan for 20 minutes and then transfer to refrigerator. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Unmold cake from pan and transfer to platter. Serve with whipped cream sprinkled with nutmeg.


Recipe adapted from unknown source.