Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust

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Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust-this creamy and rich pumpkin cheesecake is perfect for fall and holiday celebrations. The brown butter gingersnap crust is perfection! 

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust

This post is sponsored by Land O’Lakes.

It’s November and that means it is time to start planning your Thanksgiving menu. I know most people like to stick to the traditional menu, but if you are looking to branch out and try something new this year, I have the dessert for you. This Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust is everything! It is the ultimate fall dessert.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust Recipe

Confession, I don’t like pumpkin pie. I never have and probably never will. I love dessert though, so every year I make something different so I can enjoy something besides pumpkin pie for dessert. I usually make pumpkin cake or apple pie, but this year, it is all about the pumpkin cheesecake.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust Recipe

This easy, creamy, and dreamy pumpkin cheesecake is AMAZING! I made it last week to do a test run before the big holiday and it got rave reviews from our family and friends. I know it is going to be the star of Thanksgiving. Sorry pumpkin pie, but I think my cheesecake is going to be the new Thanksgiving dessert favorite.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

The pumpkin cheesecake starts with a brown butter gingersnap crust. I could just eat the crust and be content. It is that good:) The brown butter makes it extra special. I brown Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter and combine it with crushed gingersnap cookies and a little sugar. Bake the crust until golden and set aside while you make the pumpkin cheesecake filling.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust Recipe

The pumpkin cheesecake filling is easy to whip up and the pumpkin and spices make it the perfect cheesecake for fall.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust Recipe

I know some people get stressed out about making homemade cheesecake, but I promise you this recipe is so easy. To help calm your nerves, I will share a few tips.

First, make sure your cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature before you get started. I like to separate the eggs and egg whites so I can whip the egg whites before folding them into the filling. This creates a light and creamy cheesecake. Make sure you wrap your springform pan with heavy duty aluminum foil. I wrap the pan three times so no water can get in. Water? Yep, I bake the cheesecake in a water bath. This will keep the cheesecake from cracking. I also let the cheesecake cool in the oven, with the door slightly open, after it is done baking to prevent cracking. This helps it come to room temperature at a gradual rate and prevents cracking. I also like to let the cheesecake chill in the fridge overnight before serving. This makes it the perfect dessert for Thanksgiving because you can make it in advance.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust Recipe

I hope those help your cheesecake anxiety. And if your cheesecake cracks a little? No big deal, just top it with whipped cream and no one will ever know. It will be our little secret. I promise it will still taste amazing! And if your cheesecake comes out perfect, which I am sure it will, still top it with whipped cream because it makes the cheesecake pretty. I like to pipe stars around the outside. Your friends and family will ooh and aah over this gorgeous dessert. It is a real showstopper!

Add this Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust to your Thanksgiving menu this year. Your family and friends will love it! They might even skip the pumpkin pie…or they can have both. It is Thanksgiving, it is ok to have two desserts. No judging here! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

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Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown Butter Gingersnap Crust

This pumpkin cheesecake is the perfect fall dessert. Add it to your Thanksgiving menu, it is guaranteed to be a hit.
4.80 from 5 votes

Ingredients
  

For the crust:

  • 6 tablespoons  Land O Lakes® Unsalted Butter
  • 2 cups ground gingersnap cookies
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

For the pumpkin cheesecake:

  • 4 8 oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 5 large eggs at room temperature, separated
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons  vanilla extract

For the whipped cream:

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Wrap the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with 3 layers of heavy duty aluminum foil.
  • Cut the butter into tablespoons. Place in a medium skillet. Melt the butter over medium heat, swirling it in the pan occasionally. The butter will foam and pop, so be careful. Continue to swirl the pan often. Remove pan from heat once the butter starts to brown and smells nutty. There will be small brown bits on the bottom. The butter should be an amber color.
  • In a medium bowl, combine brown butter, gingersnap cookie crumbs, and sugar. Stir until evenly moistened. Press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust until deep golden, about 10-12 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F and set the crust aside to cool.
  • Fill a teakettle with water and put on the stovetop. Bring water to a boil.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and no lumps remain, about 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks and beat until smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
  • Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Add the pumpkin and beat until incorporated. Add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
  • In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold in ⅓ of the egg whites into the cheesecake mixture. Add the rest of the egg whites and fold gently.
  • Pour the filling into the cooled crust and place the pan into a large roasting pan. Place the pan into the oven and quickly pour the hot water from the teakettle into the roasting pan so that it comes up about 1 ½ inches up the foil-wrapped springform pan.
  • Bake for 80-90 minutes or until the cheesecake is set on the sides and moves slightly in the center when the pan is shaken. Carefully remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place back in the warm oven. Turn off the oven and crack open the oven door. Leave the cheesecake in the oven for one hour.
  • Remove the cheesecake from the oven and use a paring knife to loosen the sides of the cheesecake from the pan. Let the cheesecake continue to cool to room temperature. Place in the refrigerator and chill for 8 hours before serving. I like to make it the day before serving.
  • When ready to serve, make the whipped cream. Pour the heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer. With the whisk attachment, beat until thick. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until medium to stiff peaks form.
  • Remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator. Run a paring knife along the edge of the pan once more before removing the sides from the pan. Garnish with whipped cream and serve!
  • Note-the cheesecake will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I highly recommend making it the day before serving. Garnish with whipped cream right before serving. You can also freeze the cheesecake, without the whipped cream, for up to 1 month.

Have you tried this recipe?

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Maria

I'm Maria and my husband is Josh. We share a love of cooking, baking, and entertaining. We enjoy creating recipes that are simple, fresh, and family friendly. We love sitting around the table with good food, good conversation, and good friends and family! Our kitchen is always open!
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  1. My mom loves pumpkin cheesecake and i have never even had it. I so need to try this. Love that gingersnap crust too!

  2. I am always forced to use my 8″ spring-form pan, which there are rarely recipes for, because I can’t find a pan anywhere big enough for the 9″ to sit down in for the water bath. Just curious what everyone is using for their water bath that I’m overlooking? I have one cheesecake recipe that I used consistently, and I don’t know how to adjust it for add in’s, only fruit toppings.

    1. She says to use a roasting pan, so that’s what I used. Like the big kind you would roast a turkey or chicken in. It’s in the oven now, but it’s probably 12×18 and 2.5″ deep.

  3. When you wrap the pan with foil are you wrapping the bottom and sides separately and then putting it together or wrapping the whole thing as one?

    1. I wrap the whole thing as one. Just make sure you wrap it well so the water can’t get in.

  4. This recipe made WAY more filling than would ever fill a 9 inch springform – baked it as it said, and not even close to done at 90 minutes. This recipe definitely needs some tweaking….

    1. I use a 9-inch springform pan and bake for 90 minutes. Oven times can vary, so yours might need a little longer, but the 9-inch pan works for me. It is a thick and tall cheesecake.

    2. I made this tonight and used a 9″ springform pan and had enough filling for it plus 12 mini cheesecakes baked in a muffin pan. Tasting happens tomorrow but it seems the effort of using a water bath and cooling it slowly was worth it. Only one small crack formed and the cheesecake didn’t sink as it often does.

    3. That’s an oops on my part. I just realized, in cleaning up, that I accidentally used my 8″ pan – that is why I had so much filling left over.  Oh well – I’m sure my coworkers will enjoy the mini cheesecakes they’ll be getting on Monday 🙂

    4. I used a 9″ and had a lot leftover too. I guess there are probably different depth springform pans.

  5. This cheesecake looks amazing. Thanks for the tips, great idea to cook it in the water bath, I’ve never considered doing that before with cheesecake. It looks delicious.

  6. I made this on Sunday for Thanksgiving – A lot of prep and baking time, but so worth it. It looked beautiful and I was able to taste a little bit of it when I took the spring form pan off…

  7. My cheesecake cake just finished cooking and is cooling off in the oven! It looks great!! Can’t wait to eat it for Thanksgiving:)

  8. I’m wondering…  I’m making this now.  In true fashion, I’ve missed something.  I don’t have a springform pan.  If using a regular 9″ pie dish, should I do 2 pies instead of 1?  Looks like it might be a lot for a small pie tin.  Anyone have a tip?  🙂  Can’t wait to try it either way!

    1. Cheesecakes are traditionally made in springform pans. I haven’t tried it in a pie pan. It will for sure take two pie pans though, but again, I haven’t tried it.

    2. Hilary…..always read your recipe and reread to be sure that you have everything that you need.

  9. I had the same issue as Amanda….a lot of left over batter….i had an oven thermometer and I am hoping it is done. Cooked over 90 min but was still pretty wobbly. Next time would you mind showing pics of assembly and right out of oven? Thank you…my fingers are crossed it is edible after chilling overnight.

  10. I had the same issue. I’m making it now and it’s been baking for like 2 hours and it’s still super wobbly in the middle. When I poured the batter in the pan it nearly overflowed. It was a lot but I figured that’s how it was supposed to be, so I left it. It’s got a big crack around it as well, but I can cover that with whipped cream. I don’t think I did anything wrong but next time maybe I won’t put all of the batter or make a separate mini cake for the excess batter.

    1. It is a tall cheesecake, the filling should fill the pan all the way. The cheesecake should slightly jiggle, even when it is done. It will set up as it chills. I hope it came out ok for you!

  11. I just wanted to report that this was a HUGE hit! We have a huge family thanksgiving and one aunt who is in her 60s said that this was the best dessert she has ever had in her whole life! I took a risk as this is only the 4th time  I’ve made cheesecake and was hoping the recipe would work for me and it did! Well done on this recipe! The fresh nutmeg is such a wonderful touch and the depth of flavor is WONDERFUL! (I followed the recipe to a T and the only thing I cheated on was not browning the butter…oops!)

    1. Also some notes- made it in a 10 inch pan- it worked great and just adjusted baking time and took it out when it reached 150 degrees. Also doing a water bath is a must for anyone debating on doing it. I also have had problems in past with wrapping the foil too tight as  steam would cause moisture in the foil and in the crust (cheesecake would still set), but this time I wrapped foil tight around bottom but opened it up at the top so it wouldn’t trap steam (and everything was completely dry).

    2. oops and one last note (because I always read comments and appreciate tips/input on the recipes): the cheesecake did crack and I’m not positive why. The only thing is that maybe the bubbles in the egg whites rose and caused a crack. It was not a deep crack and closed up after it set (and I just covered it with whip cream/it was NOT over baked).

  12. I wanted to let you know that it turned out delicious and everyone loved it! It did take about 3 hours for some reason until it wasn’t super jiggly. It was hard also to get it out of the water and water did get in the tinfoil, although I don’t think it got in the cake. I wrapped it so many times so that part is tough! I wonder if it would turn out the same without the water bath?

  13. I am going to make this for Thanksgiving. I have a question about the eggs. Do they need to be separated? Just curious bc I have another pumpkin cheesecake recipe that I don’t do that for. Can’t wait to try this!!

  14. Hi! I plan on making this recipe for thanksgiving this year as it looks SOOOOO good! I was wondering if you posted the recipe for the Gingersnap cookies that are in the crust? Is it the Soft Gingersnap cookies recipe? I just wanted to make sure.

  15. I’m making this recipe in four 4 inch round by 1-3/4 inch high mini springform pans to give away as gifts. Any tips about baking time or other adjustments?

  16. Just made this pumpkin cheesecake for the 4th time. Don’t be intimidated by the water bath. I have never done a water bath and yes my cheesecakes crack (sometimes), but does not change the taste. This cheesecake is divine!!! I was actually asked to make it last year for Christmas for a friends family!! I make in a 10″ springform pan and it is perfect. 90 minutes to perfection!

  17. 5 stars
    This cheesecake has great flavor, especially with the browned butter gingersnap crust, but I will be using a 10-inch springform pan next time. With the beaten egg whites, this is a very fluffy cheesecake and it’s too tall, too much batter for the 9-inch pan.

  18. Hi – apparently my springform pan is smaller than I expected and I have quite a lot of filling leftover. What is the best way to bake this? I have a few cookies left and could use a few crumbled like a topping for a mousse – any suggestions about pan to use without a crust? Thanks