Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups
Why I Love This Recipe
This is a combo I made of two recipes: a Pumpkin Cheesecake from food network and a cheesecake cookie cup recipe from recipezaar.com
I made them for thanksgiving a couple years ago. they're great because they're in small serving sizes (muffin cups).
Basically the whole recipe is from the pumpkin cheesecake recipe and I just took the oven temp and the oven times from the recipe for the muffin sized regular cheesecake.
Ingredients You'll Need
Crust:
4 cups finely crushed gingersnaps
(I think if I make this again I might try graham crackers instead - I'm not sure I like gingersnaps)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 pound cream cheese softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of grated nutmeg
pinch of ground allspice
pinch of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup fresh or canned pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 deg.
Paper line 12 muffin cups
To make the crust combine the gingersnap crumbs with the melted butter and toss together until the mixture holds together when pressed.
Add an additional tablespoon of melted butter if necessary.
Pat evenly over the bottoms of the papered muffin cups. Bake about 7 minutes or until set.
Remove from oven.
Meanwhile make the filling. put the grated ginger in a fine sieve set over a small bowl and press against it to extract the juice.
Set aside the ginger juice and discard the pulp. in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, brown sugar, spices, and salt.
Beat until cramy and well combined. beat in the ginger juice and the pumpkin puree.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each until blended but being careful not to overbeat.
Pore the filling into the muffin cups and bake 15-18 minutes or until the center is just firm to the touch. cool to room temperature then chill at least 2 hours or overnight before serving.
Optional - top with dollop of cool whip and cinnamon.