I made this cheesecake for Thanksgiving in 2010 and it was a huge success! So much so that I’m sure we’ll be eating pumpkin cheesecake every year from now on.
I make the cheesecake a week or two before Thanksgiving and then freeze it right in the pan (so use a pan you don’t need!). Because I like to make the cheesecake in advance, I choose to use a 9″ cake pan instead of a spring form pan. The first piece can be tricky to get out whole, but after that, it’s a cinch!
In order to get a nice smooth mixture, make sure to have all ingredients for the cake at room temperature.
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
- Crust
- 1 1/2 cups gingersnap cookies (about 30 cookies processed in a food processor)
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
- 6 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/4 cup sucanat (or sugar)
- Cheesecake
- 3 8-oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sucanat (or 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar)
- 2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)
- 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin-pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Butter a 9 inch cake pan.
- Stir together all crust ingredients.
- Press into bottom and up sides of pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on a rack.
- With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and sucanat until light.
- Beat in eggs and yolks, 1 at a time.
- Beat in pumpkin, sour cream and vanilla.
- Reduce speed to low; beat in flour and spice.
- Pour into crust.
- Place cheesecake on center rack of oven.
- Fill a separate pan with 2 inches of hot water and place on the oven rack below the cheesecake. Bake until cake is set around edges but still slightly jiggly when lightly shaken (cheesecake will firm as it cools), 55 to 65 minutes.
- Transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.
- Cover and chill for at least 10 hours or up to 2 days.
- Can be frozen and thawed.