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I love pumpkin pie. I bake pumpkin pie, I eat pumpkin pie at every holiday gathering, I take home leftover pumpkin pie and have it for breakfast. In the time between the start of Halloween festivities (which seems to start earlier and earlier every year) and the holidays at the end of the year, I'll have overdosed on pumpkin pie, swearing that I'll never eat it again. (Until next October, of course.)
So in an effort to add some variety to the fall/winter dessert repertoire, I bake a pumpkin cheesecake at least once. It's a little more work than the evaporated milk and canned pumpkin that go into a pie, but what else would I be doing on a Saturday night?!
Preheat oven to 350.Finely grind graham crackers to make 2 cups graham cracker crumbs. Stir in 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 6 tablespoons of melted butter. Mix to moisten crumbs, then spread into bottom and up sides of lightly greased springform pan (mine is 9"). Bake for 15 minutes until slightly darkened.
Beat 3 8 oz. packages of room temperature cream cheese until smooth.
In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg. Add to cream cheese and beat until smooth.
Beat in 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract and 3 large eggs one at a time until smooth. Stir in 1 cup pumpkin puree. Don't beat the living daylights out of it - too much air in the batter will make it pouf up in the oven like a souffle, then fall into an ugly cracked mess. Pour the batter into the baked graham cracker crust.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 and bake for an additional 15 minutes until only the center is wiggly. Remove from oven, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving. Chilling overnight is best, but who has the patience?
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11-01-2005 @11:14PM Tim said... Aha! I successfully made a beautiful cake on my first attempt! I tried leaving it in the oven as was suggested and it worked great. I wasn't able to sample it until the next morning, but it was worth the wait. Soo delicious! I'm making another for my parents in a couple weeks when the come and visit. Thanks again for the recipe!
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11-02-2005 @12:48AM sarah said... tim! that's AWESOME! i am so glad it turned out...and yes, i also now know that you absolutely MUST wait one day or at least 6 hours for the cheesecake to set and firm up. we were a little overzealous and when we ate it, it was a little soft still.
glad you enjoyed it!
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11-23-2005 @3:17PM Chris S said... I've got one of these baking and will try the leaving it in the oven tip. It's also my first cheesecake, so I'm pretty excited and hope it turns out. My kitchen smells wonderful right now (I'm still in here, got Wifi in my house), thanks for the great recipe.
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11-29-2005 @3:20PM Beth said... I made this last Tuesday before Thanksgiving to take to my parents' house. I let it settle overnight and then put it in the fridge the whole next day. It was my first ever attempt at cheesecake and It was AWESOME. My family has now made me promise to bring it every year. Thanks for the recipe!
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11-29-2005 @3:32PM sarah said... woo hoooooo! so glad that another person baked the cheesecake and it turned out awesome! yay!
and just as a side note...you can also make this same cheesecake, substituting an equal amount of mashed sweet potatoes for the pumpkin - it has a little bit of a different flavor...and EXCELLENT way to use up leftover sweet potatoes from thanksgiving :) just leave out the marshmallows. LOL!
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10-24-2005 @6:00PM Tim said... Oh goodness. Thank you for this! I don't know if I could wait much longer for the Cheesecake Factory to have pumpkin cheesecake, but now I can make my own. Wheeee!
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10-24-2005 @8:33PM sarah said... omy, and you must come back and let us know how it turns out!
just as a follow-up to the original post...the cheesecake really should chill out overnight because i have just discovered that it tastes sooooo much better the next day.
for breakfast.
LOL!
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10-25-2005 @10:32AM Punisher2K said... Been making pumpkin pie cheesecake and prefer it to traditional.
To help with cracking put a roasting pan with boiling water in the oven. The humidity helps the cake (pie) to bake more even and prevent cracking.
Also do not remove the cake from the oven immediately after the baking cycle. Crack the oven door to let the heat out slowly and then remove and cool on a rack. Cooling to fast also leads to cracking
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10-25-2005 @12:47PM sarah said... aha! i have heard that about cheesecakes - leaving it in the oven with the heat turned off - but WHO HAS THE PATIENCE?!?! lol!
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