Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cleaning off my desk before moving, I found this recipe we made a while ago. I need a break from taping boxes, so I thought I'd blog this. It's my mother's recipe, though I think I modified it when I actually made it.

Ingredients

• 1/4lb ginger snaps or graham crackers
  
• 1/2 stick of butter
  
• 1lb cream cheese (the real stuff)
  
• 1 can pumpkin (12 or 14oz or so - whatever it is)
  
• 3 eggs
  
• .75c dark brown sugar
  
• .75c white sugar
  
• 1.5tsp cinnamon
  
• .5tsp ginger
  
• .5tsp nutmeg
  
• or in place of the ginger and nutmeg, use 1tsp "baking spice", which also has anise and probably cloves, I'd imagine.
  

Crush the ginger snaps or gram crackers, then melt the butter and combine thoroughly. Press into the bottom of a 9-10" springform and chill for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese in a mixer, then add eggs and then everything else. Make sure the cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature when you begin, otherwise the cream cheese gets lumpy. We had this problem - if it happens, mix everything together, then set up a double boiler and stir the mixture thoroughly until the cream cheese is more or less combined.

About 15 minutes before the crust is done chilling, preheat the oven to 350 and put pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven.

Pour the mixture into the crust and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes on a middle rack, until just jiggly in the middle (about 3/4 of the way in) but mostly set everywhere else. Cool on a cooling rack (or a stove burner cover) to about room temperature, then cover and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Serve!


Thoughts: Very similar to a pumpkin pie, but... well... better. The tangy bite of the cream cheese really helps combat the frequent dullness of the pumpkin pie filling. I don't have too much negative to say about it. Claire didn't love it as much - she's not a huge fan of pumpkin, but I think that for thanksgiving, this gives the original a run for its money.

Disaster Index: 1/10