This gorgeous dessert tastes even better than it looks. Sweet pumpkin pie spices have found their true soul mate in slightly tangy cheesecake– like any good pairing, each brings out the best in the other.
Making the swirled marble pattern is easy, but not necessary. You can simply blend all the ingredients togethers for a cheesecake that comes out a beautiful amber color.
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
Filling:
24 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 large eggs, divided
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup sour cream
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat a 9-inch spring form pan with cooking spray.
- Combine the graham cracker crumb, butter and sugar. Pat the mixture on the bottom and part of the way up the sides of the pan. Bake 10 minutes; remove from oven and let cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 300F.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, white sugar, flour and vanilla; beat until smooth. Add 3 of the eggs and beat until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, beat the remaining 2 eggs with a whisk. Add the cinnamon, allspice, ginger and nutmeg; whisk. Stir in the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and sour cream; mix thoroughly.
- Pour the (white) cream cheese mixture into the cooled crust. Spoon the pumpkin mixture over it in small dollops, leaving about half the white mixture visible. Insert a butter knife into each pumpkin dollop and drag it through the cream cheese mixture, forming a swirl or marble of the colors.
- Place the cake in the center of the oven and bake 1 hour. Turn the oven off and let the cake sit undisturbed for another hour. Cool, then refrigerate at least overnight.
May be made up to two days in advance and kept, well-wrapped, in the refrigerator.
For more Thanksgiving recipes and a guide to planning and timing, click here
Special thanks to my talented and nearly perfect daughter, Rachel Fagiano, who came up with the concept for and styled the photo above.
I’m becoming food obsessed Marge. I’m making the parsnip purée and this cheesecake! I just hope it makes it to the Thanksgiving table!
You know, Kristin, it is just a wee bit early to make the parsnips for Thanksgiving so I think you better eat this batch (call it the test batch).
The Galactic cheesecake, on the other hand, you could make tomorrow and it will still be good. But you better hide it from yourself if it’s going to be hanging around for four days. (is hiding something from yourself like trying to tickle yourself? Neither can actually happen. Well, unless you don’t have all your faculties in which case, I’d say you’re going to just eat the cheesecake anyway).