baby cake

Here is the recipe that I promised some girlfriends from Mindy's baby shower. It is from Susan Branch Autumn cook book. My favorite part of this cheese cake is the crust! Enjoy!

[caption id="attachment_424" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="pumpkin cheesecake"][/caption]

Crust
3 cups broken gingersnap cookies
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, finely grind cookies, nuts, and sugar. Add butter and process until combined. Press mixture onto bottom and sides of a 10" spring form pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Filling
4 - 8 oz.packages of cream cheese, at room temp.
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 - 15 oz. can pumpkin
2 tbsp. whipping cream
2 tbsp. rum
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. mace
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
4 large eggs

Place a large pan filled with water (bain marie) on the lowest shelf in the oven. With electric mixer beat together first 11 ingredients until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating until just combined. Pour into crust and bake at 350 degrees, for 1 hour and 15 minutes, 'til cake is puffy and light brown. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon, cool, then chill overnight.

My notes: I thought that there was too much butter in the crust. It leaked through the bottom of the spring form. Next time, I will omit less. I also didn't add any rum and it was fine without it. I didn't let the cream cheese come to complete room temp. It didn't blend like I thought it would. And you can see the cream cheese chunks in the picture. Next time, I'll know better! I also served it with Reddy Whip. Just like pumpkin pie. Yummy! This was my first cheesecake that I ever made. And was super easy! I am definitely making this for Thanksgiving this year.