Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

My brother bought back a pumpkin which he get from a friend. My mother rarely cooked with them, and I never used any pumpkin in my cooking - not even during my culinary study. Then, I remembered that Kevin from Closet Cooking have lots of pumpkin recipes, and I decided to try his Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake. I made this Pumpkin Cheesecake with a little bit of alteration with Kevin's recipe, using whatever ingredients available.

Closet Cooking Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs *

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp ground ginger

6 tbsp butter (melted)

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (room temperature)

3 eggs (slightly beaten)

1 cup brown sugar **

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger ***

1/4 tsp ground cloves ***

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg ***

1. Mix the gingersnap cookie crumbs, sugar, ginger and butter and press into the bottom and up 1 inch along the sides of a 9 inch spring form pan.

2. Bake the crust in a preheated oven at 350F for 5 minutes and set aside.

3. Cream the cream cheese.

4. Mix in the egg one at a time followed by brown sugar, pumpkin puree, vanilla and then, the spices.

5. Pour the mixture into the spring form pans.

6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until it is set, about 60-70 minutes.

7. Let it cool completely

8. Chill the cheesecake in the fridge overnight.

Alteration:

* I used marie biscuit crumbs instead of gingersnap cookie crumbs.

** I reduced the sugar to 3/4 cups

*** I used mixed spice as the spice isn't available.

Be sure to visit Closet Cooking for more awesome pumpkin recipes!