Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

Pumpkin cheesecake has been on my list for a while now. The problem is a cheesecake is huge and extremely tempting so I never got around to making it. Then my best friend, Monica, said that she wanted to make a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving and asked if I would make one and post it for her prior to T-Day so she could make it. That was the push I needed to hurry and make one!

(Now, let me have a small pity party for a second and say that I wish that we were still in Germany so I could've just brought the cheesecake to Thanksgiving instead of Monica having to make her own!!!)

I started with Dorie Greenspan's basic cheesecake recipe and tweaked it to create an awesome dessert that will be the star of any sweets table. I absolutely LOVED this cheesecake and will be making it again. Lucky for my waist, my good friend Lesa (who I also met in Germany and is now in El Paso with me!) took 1/2 of it off my hands. :)

If you are looking for a fantastic pumpkin cheesecake recipe, this one is IT! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

For the crust:
1 3/4 cups gingersnap crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
4 (8oz) blocks cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups heavy cream

Butter a 9-inch springform pan and wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil; put the pan on a baking sheet.

Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. Turn the ingredients into the buttered springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides.

Preheat oven to 325.

Beat the cream cheese at medium speed for 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and pumpkin and continue to beat another 4 minutes. Mix in salt and spices. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the heavy cream.

Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in a roaster pan.

Pour batter into springform pan. Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Turn off the oven's heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.

After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster—be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.

When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours, although overnight would be better.