Spiced pumpkin cheesecake

1 Servings

Quantity Ingredient
1 cup Pecans
1 cup Graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons Sugar
5 tablespoons Unsalted butter; melted
4 packs (8 oz) cream cheese; room temp
cup Sugar
½ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon Ground ginger
1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin
3 larges Eggs
1 tablespoon Vanilla extract

CRUST

FILLING

I am not a big baker as I have a husband who is rather talented in that field. But my family all wanted very traditional Thanksgiving dishes (No chiles in anything Chris!) and my culinary fingers were itching, so I tackled desserts. This cheesecake recipe came from the Nov 97 Bon Appetit and was excellent! Thought someone might need a Christmas dessert idea...

See my notes at the end.

For Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Blend first 3 ingredients in processor until nuts are finely chopped. Add butter; process until moist crumbs form. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9 inch diameter springform pan with 2¾ inch high sides. Bake until lightly toasted, about 10 minutes. Cool. Wrap outside of pan with double thickness of heavy-duty foil.

For Filling: Using electric mixer, beat first 4 ingredients in large bowl until smooth. Add pumpkin; beat until blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth. Transfer to crust. Set in roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come 1 inch up sides of springform pan. Bake cake until top is golden and begins to crack and center is set, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Remove from roasting pan. Cool. Chill overnight. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; keep chilled.) My notes: I chopped the crust ingredients by hand with no problems. I used Neufchatel cheese (low fat cream cheese) with no problems. As usual for me, my hand with the spices is heavy. I like the flavors so I added a tad extra.

Posted to FOODWINE Digest by "Mcelrath, Christine" <christim@...> on Dec 4, 1997

Related recipes