Pumpkin Cheesecake

I LOVE fall! All the rich colors and the rich flavors...I was driving down 1700 south today, looking out across the valley to the Oquirrh Mountains and it was truly amazing! With the gray sky and the darker gray clouds and the browns and oranges and shadows on the mountains it was as though I was looking at a painting. It was beautigul. I digress. One of my favorite things about this season is all things pumpkins. Pumpkin pie, Aunt Mary's pumpkin cake...don't even get me started on Jack-O-Lanterns. Not a real big fan of the pumpkin cookie though...hmmm...

I stumbled upon a cooking blog the other day and found this recipe. I made it for dad for desert of the month club and he shared it with the Deckers at dinner yesterday. Heidi actaully called to tell me how much she liked it. Thanks Beebs. And thanks blogger for posting it!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:
1 3/4 cup gingersnap crumbs- about 30-35 small cookies
6 TBS melted butter
3 TBS brown sugar
3/4 cup ground pecans

Filling:
3 8oz. blocks cream cheese
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
6 oz. melted white chocolate - about 1 cup chips
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves

Topping:
1 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup roughly chopped toasted pecans
2 TBS caramel sauce

Wrap bottom and sides of springform pan with heavy duty foil. This will prevent leaks during the water bath.

For Crust: Use a food processor to crush gingersnaps. Then do the pecans. Combine gingersnaps, pecans, brown sugar and butter and stir well. Press into 9" springform pan. Press evenly along the bottom and up sides about 1-inch.

To melt chocoalte, place in microwave safe bowl and microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, beate cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time. Add pumpkin, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves.

With mixer running, slowly add in white chocolate in a steady stream...more like blops.

Pour mixture on top of crust.

Place cheesecake pan inside a larger pan, at least 2-3" deep. Place in preheated oven...350...and fill with hot water about 1/2 way up.

Bake for 60-75 minutes or until set. Center should be just a tad jiggly.

Remove from oven and place on rack to cool completely. Place in fridge for at least 12 hours.

When ready to serve, spread with stiff whipped cream, drizzle with cramel sauce and sprinkle with toasted pecan pieces.

It sounds like a lot but it goes pretty fast and it's actually super easy. And really, cheesecake and pumpkin together? How could you go wrong?!

Enjoy!