Deluxe Pumpkin Cheesecake With Gingersnap Crust

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 1 cup crushed gingersnap cookie (about 20 cookies)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350. grease a 9-inch springform pan; wrap outside bottom of pan with two layers of foil, shiny side out, so that it goes up the sides about 2 inches; set aside.
• 2 in a small bowl: combine crust ingredients; press into bottom of prepped pan; place on cookie sheet; bake for 8-10 minutes; cool -- save the bowl for later.
• 3 for cheese filling, in a large bowl: beat one pkg cream cheese with half cup of the sugar along with the cornstarch, until smooth. beat in remaining cream cheese, one pkg at a time, then add remaining sugar.
• 4 add two eggs, beat until combined (on low), add vanilla and remaining eggs until well-combined.
• 5 for the pumpking filling: place two cups of cheese filling into the smaller bowl (set large bowl aside for now), stir in pumpkin, cinnamon & nutmeg.
• 6 remove 3/4 cup of the pumpkin filling (this is for dollops); set aside.
• 7 pour remaining pumpkin filling into prepped crust, gently -- pour cheese filling over this.
• 8 gently drop spoonfuls of reserved p-kin filling in dollops over the cheese filling, lightly cut/drag through this with a knife (don't go very deeply!) to swirl artfully. :-) yes, artfully!
• 9 water bath: set springform pan in a large baking pan (casserole will do), add one inch of hot water to the larger pan.
• 10 bake for 55-65 minutes (center is set, top appears dull); remove cheesecake from water bath; cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes; carefully run a knife around the edges to loosen; cool another hour; refrigerate over night.
• 11 at serving time: garnish with a drizzle of chocolate or caramel topping/syrup, whipped cream & a smidgen of cookie crumbs if desired (hahhahaha!).
• 12 for people who like doing things opposite: reverse the order of fillings -- and use cheese filling for the dollops!