Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

And the pumpkin recipes continue into November! This is actually my second attempt at cheesecake. The first results were amazing so I was expecting no less with this pumpkin cheesecake. I was originally going to make a swirl but.... I can be honest here right? I FU&^%D it up. Whatever. So I layered it and it actually came out really great! And if you have never made a gingersnap crust before. DO IT. It gives the cheesecake such a great flavor. 

I ended up making four cute individual cheesecakes from one 9 in spring form pan. I cut them with biscuit cutters. You can use cookie cutters for Fall or Thanksgiving themed cut outs. You can even use a very small cutter and make little individual cheesecakes. How cute is that? The flavor for this cheesecake is one for the books though. And if you don't trust my judgement post, I had 4 other taste testers and I believe one of them described their first bite as orgasmic. Just saying.... 

Anyway, this is the perfect recipe for Thanksgiving. I mean really. How many pumpkin pies can one bring to Thanksgiving. Change it up a little bit!

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

Recipe from KoKo Cooks

Ingredients

Gingersnap Crust

1 c gingersnap crumbs

¼ c sugar

⅛ tsp salt

3 Tbs butter, melted

Cheesecake

9 oz. cream cheese (1 ½ blocks)

¾ c sugar

1 ½ Tbs flour

2 eggs

½ tsp vanilla

1 c pumpkin puree

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice

Directions: 

For the crust: combine gingersnap crumbs, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Drizzle in butter and mix well. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For the cheesecake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and flour. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla.

Pour about 1 c of the cream cheese mixture into a separate bowl. Add the pumpkin puree, egg yolk, & pumpkin pie spice. Mix well.

Pour half the cream cheese mixture over the gingersnap crust. Drizzle the pumpkin mixture over it. Drizzle the remaining cream cheese mixture on top of that. Swirl together with the edge of a butter knife to achieve a marble pattern.

Place springform pan on top of a baking sheet. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 300°F, and bake another 30- 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

To form the mini cheesecakes: Remove the sides of the springform pan. Place cheesecake in the freezer for an hour. Remove from freezer, and dip a 1 ½ inch metal cutter (cookie cutter, biscuit cutter...) in warm water. Cut out rounds from the cheesecake. Dip the cutter periodically in the warm water to rinse it off. Use an offset spatula to help lift the cheesecake rounds off the base of the springform pan (if necessary.)