celebrity writers

Easy Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust

The Snap of Ginger Brings the Crust Out of the Background

Oct 4, 2008

Pumpkins Saying Cheese-Cake Me, Benjamin D. Esham-wikiMedia Commons

Gingersnaps make a great alternative to the ubiquitous graham cracker crust.

Besides the crust, another thing that makes this recipe a snap is reserving part of the cream cheese mixture for the topping. Swirling the dollops of the topping give your cheesecake an artful marbled appearance.

You can also make this in an ordinary pie pan or quiche dish of a comparable sized, but if you love cheesecake, one of these specialty pans will be worth the investment. Either one enables you to cut perfect wedges for serving.

Easy Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust

You will need: 9-inch cheesecake pan with removable bottom -or- a springform pan

For the Gingersnap Crust:

9 ounces gingersnap cookies
2 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp melted butter

For the Filling:

2 (8-ounce) pkgs cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin

For Serving:

sweetened whipped cream
candied ginger slivers

Method for the Crust:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Break the cookies into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they are finely crushed. (Alternatively you can work in batches, putting the cookies in a zip-lock bag and crushing them with a rolling pin). You should have 1 3/4 cups.
Mix the sugar and butter into the cookie crumbs.
Press the cookie mixture evenly over the bottom and one inch up the sides of the cheescake pan.
Bake until just lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

Method for the Filling:

With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and brown sugar. Add the eggs on at a time, beating after each addition. Divide and set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture.
Blend in the five-spice and pumpkin to the remaining mixture.
Pour the pumpkin mixture into the prepared crust. Drop dollops (~1 Tbsp each) of the reserved cheese mixture randomly over the surface of the pumpkin mixture. Run the tip of a knife across the dollops to make swirls of the white over the orange surface of the pumpkin mixture.
Bake until the center just barely jiggles, about 50 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 2 1/2 hours or as much as 24 hours.

When you're ready to serve, run a knife around the edge of the cake and push the bottom up out of the sides of the pan. Serve wedges topped with sweetened whipped cream and a sliver of candied ginger (if using).

You might also be interested in this Dreamy Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe.

Read here for Tips of Making Perfect Cheesecake.

Can't get enough pumpkin? Try Pumpkin-Apple Soup.

The copyright of the article Easy Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust in Fall Recipes is owned by Larry Ervin. Permission to republish Easy Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.