Pumpkin Cheesecake

Submitted by evelynathens

"Break tradition and forget the pie! Serve this cheesecake instead. OK, I like the pie too, no reason not to have both.;-)"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 24
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• Crust

• 3⁄4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1⁄2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1⁄4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 3⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄4 cup butter, melted and cooled

• Filling

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ginger
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon allspice
• 1⁄8 teaspoon clove
• 1 cup sugar, plus
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• cinnamon whipped cream for garnish

• 1 cup well-chilled heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 3⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
• caramel sauce (optional)

directions

1. Place rack in center of oven.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Make crust: Combine all crust ingredients in a bowl.
4. Press onto bottom of 10 inch springform pan and bake for 10 minutes.
5. Remove to cool.
6. Make filling: Whisk together pumpkin, eggs, spices, salt and ¾ cup of the sugar.
7. Cream together cream cheese and remaining sugar.
8. Beat in cream, cornstarch and vanilla.
9. Carefully beat in pumpkin mixture.
10. Pour into crust. Lift pan 1 inch off counter and let drop (this breaks up any air bubbles in the batter that may contribute to cracking). Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until center is set. Run a thin, sharp knife around edge of pan to release crust (this too helps inhibit cracking).
11. Let cool, covered loosely, overnight.
12. Remove sides of pan and put on your prettiest serving platter.
13. Garnish with cinnamon whipped cream and caramel sauce (if desired); dust top of cake lightly with more cinnamon.
14. For cinnamon whipped cream: Beat cream until foamy. Beat in sugar and cinnamon until the cream holds soft peaks.
15. Note: Although this cheesecake has never cracked for me, I know it has for others - but not to worry as the cinnamon whipped cream topping embellishes everything and the cheesecake is just gorgeous! ;-).

Reviews

[ceyanne]

This is the first time I have made cheesecake so this is a newbie review for it. My cheesecake cracked really bad but I think I overcooked it. My mother turned the oven down and we cooked it longer than advised. I treated it more like a cake and did the tooth pick test on it(waited for it to be mostly clean b4 pulling it.). I added a couple more table spoons of sugar to the batter and the whip cream so I think that is more of a "to taste" ingrediant. This is a receipe that I want to try again and again. It had an excellent taste. The whip cream was a perfect accompaniment. I did not drizzle caramel over it(time crunch) but will next time. Overall even with it overcooked (my fault) it was EXCELLENT!!!!

 

[Mommy Chef 27]

Perfection! Nice cheesecake flavor, not overpowered by pumpkin. Wonderful with the cinnamon whipped cream and carmel sauce, do not skip! Only problem, I ate way too much of the cheesecake myself!

 

[MixingItAllUp]

I was in the mood for something pumpkin and with fall coming this looked good. This is To Die For Good!!!

 

[babyiguana]

Good cheesecake!! l followed allmost everything exept the topping. Which l mixed up sourcream and whipped cream with icing shugar and cinnamon just to personal taste. Even turned out moist and didnt crack.

 

[ReeLani]

Mmmmmm! This tasted sooo good. I made this cheesecake for DH's co-worker's birthday. She's the usual office baker, so I thought it was sad that she'd have store-bought treats for her birthday. This is creamy, pumpkiny and perfectly spiced. The only thing I changed was to make the crust with all grahm crackers, due to a nut allergy. Just increased crumbs to a total of 1 1/2 cups and omitted the pecans (even though I personally would have loved them!). I did put a pan of hot water on the oven rack below the one on which the cheesecake baked, and the cheesecake came out perfect...not a crack in sight. I ran the knife around the edge right away as suggested also. I know I will make this again, and the only thing that I'll do differently is to bake it slightly longer. I took it out at 45 minutes and didn't worry about the jiggly center, but it never did firm up as much in the middle as I'd have liked. I think another 5 minutes of baking time will correct that problem. The cinnamon whipped cream was yummy, too, and some of the guys at the office wanted to know why the "Cool Whip" tasted so good! :-D