I mean, can I get an amen?! OK, so maybe you haven’t been in that exact predicament before, but this pumpkin cheesecake makes up for that hole in your life that may or may not exist, and so much more. It’s rich and spiced, this perfect fusion between pumpkin pie and cheesecake. It’s not “pumpkin spice-inspired” and it’s not pumpkin pie with cream cheese in it. It’s like that cousin you have who’s the exact 50/50 blend of their mom and their dad. Sometimes you might say, “Oh, that’s so Uncle Robert”, and other times you’re certain that “That’s all Aunt Janice”, but you could never commit to a seesawing unbalance one way or the other. Are we still talking about cheesecake?!
What Makes This Recipe So Good
This pumpkin cheesecake is 100% perfect for Thanksgiving, whether you’re hosting the big day yourself or just looking for a dish to bring the hostess (or host.. sorry, gents). I had some trouble with this cheesecake.. namely, I neglected to really tightly wrap the springform pan in foil, causing the water bath to leak into my cheesecake, which really made the crust do this tremendously unpretty thing. Untasty thing. But it was all my half-assed aluminum foiling skills’ fault. I then baked another rendition without a water bath, and probably whipped it far too long, and it baked for a million years and still wasn’t done. Translation: use a water bath. It’ll be gorgeous and perfect and wonderful in every way. Except if you halfheartedly wrap that sucker in aluminum foil, in which case you’ll have a cheesecake crust whose true ambition is bread pudding. Wrap it tightly, and you’ll find yourself with a rich, spiced, pumpkinny, yet cheesecaky dish with a beautifully smooth top and no cracks to be found–nowhere, not anywhere, not no nowheres. Huh? I digress, again.
Serving Suggestions
You can totally pipe some whipped cream on the edge for a gorgeous presentation, or just plop a dollop on individual slices (plop is so close to being a weird sort of anagram of dollop, which makes me inexplicably amused, but it just falls short, which makes me inexplicably disappointed). I made mine a day before sending into work with dearest O, so I forewent the whipped cream, but it’s rich enough to not need whipped cream at all. A steady sprinkling of sifting powdered sugar is elegant and the perfect dusty garnish. Comme ça: Make this!
