Fall has arrived and i’m officially jumping head first onto the pumpkin everything train, starting with this awesome pumpkin cheesecake recipe. It’s a good thing that I only really like coffee-flavored coffee or I would certainly become super-duper morbidly obese drinking foofoo pumpkin spice lattes everyday. This recipe combines my favorite cheesecake recipe with all of the fall pumpkin flavors I could muster. Enjoy.
INGREDIENTS:
CRUST:
1 cup crispy gingersnap cookie crumbs
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp melted butter
FILLING:
3 (8 oz) packages of Cream Cheese
1 (15oz) can pure pumpkin puree
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup Irish cream liqueur (Bailey’s etc…)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 eggs
Pumpkin Pie Spice for topping
DIRECTIONS:
Either you can place the cookies in a bag and beat the fuck out of them until they are super dead and a crummy pile of angst, or you can put them in a blender of sorts; the choice is yours. Might I suggest that one is a lot more fun. Anyhow… Combine Crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar, and melted butter. Press this crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan with 2 3/4 inch sides. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool. Maintain oven temperature.
Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, vanilla in large bowl until blended.
Add 1 cup sour cream, liqueur, pumpkin puree, and all spices. Beat. Add eggs one at a time, beating just until combined.
Pour the filling over the pre-cooked crust and provide samples.
Bake at 350 degrees until edges are puffed and center no longer moves when shaken (usually 1-1.25 hours). Transfer cheesecake to rack and cool for 15 minutes.
The cheesecake will settle and condense quite a bit when it cools. Dust some pumpkin pie spice over the top in a sad attempt at hiding all flaws (it’s okay little buddy). Refrigerate at least 6 hours before serving.
Done!
Random behind the scenes photo:
Pour whole cream into a pint-sized jar (or any size jar) with a tight fitting lid. We usually fill it about half way.
Shake it! It takes about 8-10 minutes of shaking, so be patient. Of course, you could just use a mixer, but what fun would that be. For Kennedy we bought one of the cheap plastic containers from Target (the one with the plastic straw and lid with a hole) and used a regular Kerr/Mason jar lid on it. Keep shaking! There will come a point where it wont feel like the liquid is moving anymore, keep going! It will separate into a large lump.
Separate the Buttermilk from the Butter. Don’t worry about getting all of the liquid the first time. We don’t generally cook with Buttermilk, so we often just throw this away, but if you do make sure you have a jar or something to save it in. After separating, you will want to add water to the jar and shake it again (a few times) until the rinse water runs mostly clear. You don’t need to shake it long, just a few seconds.
By this point, you have officially made butter, now you just need to do what you can to get as much of the the liquid out as possible. We generally will put it into a large strainer (not necessary) and then put it into a large bowl. You can turn the butter with a spatula or wooden spoon, and strain off the excess liquid as you go; do this until most of the liquid has been removed.
All that remains is to add in any salt/herbs/honey that you choose (or nothing at all). We bought 
