I make this recipe every year for my family for Thanksgiving dessert, and I hope you enjoy it just as much as we do. To me it symbolizes thankfulness and gratitude for the love, laughter, and beautiful moments from the past year. Enjoying it with the people around you is truly the biggest blessing of all!
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 3 packages cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup dark run
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup Libby's Pure Pumpkin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Fresh berries and whipped cream for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325° F.
- Combine graham cracker crumbs with melted butter. Mix until combined.
- Press onto the bottom and slightly up the side of 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool completely.
- Meanwhile, in the bowl of a mixer add the softened cream cheese and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until just combined (not over beating the batter is key for cheesecake!).
- Add the vanilla and rum, and then room temperature eggs one at a time until just combined. After the final egg is incorporated into the batter, stop mixing.
- Scoop out 2 cups of batter and place in a medium mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and salt until combined. Begin adding big spoonfuls of each batter, the plain and the pumpkin, on top of the crust until you have used all of it.
- Use a knife to gently swirl the batters together.
- Bake for 1 hour. Turn oven off and let cool in oven for another hour. Once cooled, refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
- Top with fresh berries and whipped cream and enjoy!
Notes
Excerpted from The Great Big Pumpkin Cookbook by Maggie Michalczyk. © 2020 text and photo Maggie Michalczyk. Published by Skyhorse Publishing.