World's BEST Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe!!!

This was the first Thanksgiving Rob and I have hosted in our new home! It was a lot of fun having everyone over. Of course, the food was AMAZING! I loved how everyone worked together by cooking and bringing dishes to share! I love my family!

For dessert I decided to try out a new recipe I stumbled upon at TasteOfHome.com 

It was DELICIOUS!!! It was the first pumpkin cheesecake I've made, so I was a 

little concerned it would not be as good as it looked, but after reading all the great reviews I decided to try it out! I didn't have the ginger snap cookies it called for so I used gingerbread cookies instead, but that was the only thing I did differently.

12 ServingsPrep: 35 min. Bake: 50 min. + chilling

Ingredients

• 1 cup crushed gingersnap cookies (about 20 cookies)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened, divided
• 1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 
  
• GARNISH:
• Chocolate syrup, caramel ice cream topping, whipped topping and additional crushed gingersnap cookies, optional
• 
  

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°. 
• 
  
• Place a greased 9-in. springform pan on a
• double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 18 in. square). Securely
• wrap foil around pan.  (I just used the bottom that came with my pampered chef spring form pan)
• 
  
• In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs, pecans and butter. Press onto
• the bottom of prepared pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake 8-10
• minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.
• 
  
• For filling, in a large bowl, beat 1 package of cream cheese, 1/2 cup
• sugar and cornstarch until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in
• remaining cream cheese, one package at a time until smooth. Add
• remaining sugar and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until
• combined.
• 
  
• Place 2 cups filling in a small bowl; stir in pumpkin, cinnamon, and
• nutmeg. Remove 3/4 cup pumpkin filling; set aside. 
• 
  
• Pour remaining pumpkin filling over crust; top with remaining plain filling. Cut
• through with a knife to swirl. 
• 
  
• Drop reserved pumpkin filling by spoonfuls over cheesecake; cut through with a knife to swirl.
• 
  
• Place spring form pan in a large baking pan; add 1 in. of hot water to
• larger pan. 
• 
  
• Bake 55-65 minutes or until center is just set and top
• appears dull. 
• 
  
• Remove springform pan from water bath. 
• 
  
• Cool on a wire rack 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen;
• 
  
• cool 1 hour longer. 
• 
  
• Refrigerate overnight.
• 
  
• Garnish with chocolate syrup, caramel sauce, whipped topping and
• additional crushed gingersnaps if desired. Yield: 12 servings.

Taste of Home - Best Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe!!!