11 October 2011

Day 11-31 Days of Samhuinn Cooking-Chai-spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

One day I will capture a photo of this glorious treat.  Pixie and I love chai, pumpkin and cheesecake so we played about one day and created this bit of scrumminess.

Chai-spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

2 cups crushed ginger snaps
1/4 cup of melted butter

4 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 (15oz) can pumpkin (not pie mix)
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground star anise
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Heat over to 300*F

Grease a 9-in springform pan and wrap the outside with heavy duty aluminum foil. This recipe uses the waterbath cooking method so heavy duty foil is a MUST to prevent the water leaking through and ruining the cheesecake.

In a small bowl, mix gingersnaps and butter and press into the springform pan to cover the bottom and up the sides 1 inch in height.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until set.  Cool 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until blended.  DO NOT over mix. Stir in pumpkin and spices  until just combined, leaving it a bit swirled is good too.

Spread into pan over crust.

Place the foil-wrapped pan in a shallow baking pan.  Add very hot water to the pan,  filling halfway.  Being careful to not spill water into the cheesecake.

Bake for 1 hour and 20 min or until the outer 2 inches of the cake has set and the center still jiggles a bit when moved.  Shut off oven and crack oven door and allow cheesecake to sit in the oven for 35 min

Remove from oven and transfer cheesecake pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 30-60 minutes. 

Cover pan with foil loosely and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight. Allowing the cheesecake overnight allows the spices to really meld with the cake.


16 servings



~Stephanie Lowell-Libby

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