Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Pecan Crust

This was my dessert for my turn of Sunday Night Dinner in November. It was also my first cheesecake! It was amazing. If you don’t like cheesecake then I don’t like you.

(not my picture but it came out exactly like this)

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Pecan Crust
From: Lululu at Home

Crust:
1 cup gingersnap cookie crumb
1/2 cup pecan, processed to crumb/powder
5 tbsp unsalted butter
Filling:
450g cream cheese, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Topping:
1/2 cup pecans roughly chopped
1/4 cup caramel topping (or however much you want)
 

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Grease a 9-inch spring form pan and wrap the pan in aluminum foil
-Make the crust by mixing the crust ingredients together with a fork
-Press the mixture onto the bottom of the spring form pan. Bake crust for 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.
-Turn down oven temperature to 275F.
-Beat the cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth. Add egg, one at a time. Mix for 2 minutes.
-Pour in pumpkin puree, vanilla and spice. Blend for another 2 minutes until well combined.
-Pour the filling over the cooled crust. Tap the pan on counter a few times to release all the air in the batter.
-Bake for an hour, or until the edge of the cheesecake is puffed but the center is still wobbly and wet looking.
-Turn off the oven with the door slightly opened, let the cheesecake sit in the oven to cool completely, at least an hour.
-Remove from oven. Chill for overnight.
-Drizzle caramel sauce and warm caramel topping over cheesecake before serving

Note: To prevent cracking you can use a water bath but I don’t have a deep enough pan for that so I just place a 9×13 sheet cake pan with about an inch of water on the rack below the one the cheesecake is on.