Are you afraid of making a cheesecake? Don't let the recipe books intimidate you ... you can do it ... and yours will be better than any cheesecake you will find elsewhere. The base of this cheesecake goes with everything ... any topping ... any swirl ... any crust.
This is the best, and I PROMISE, the easiest cheesecake ever. I have experimented with it a thousand times (not exaggerating ... I make hundreds of cheesecakes/year) and you just can't screw it up. It is also all natural ... 5 ingredients, plus the crust & pumpkin: you are going to LOVE it!!!
For the crust: You can purchase a pre-made graham cracker crust or you can crush half a box of ginger snaps, mix it with 1/2 cup of melted butter and mash it into the bottom of a cheesecake pan or a 9x13 baking dish ... whatever floats your boat ... (if you do the gingersnap/butter ... bake it at 350 for about 10 mintues before you put the filling in) / (if you do the ready made crust, half the recipe for filling). Be sure to grease the pan.
Filling:
4 (8 oz.) blocks cream cheese ~ softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp. Vanilla
Beat the cream cheese until it's pretty smooth ... add the sugar (the sugar will soften the cream cheese up more and help to smooth out the last lumps. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Be sure to use a spatula to clean the sides of the bowl a few times in-between. Add the Cream & vanilla and beat for about 30 seconds. Remove 1/2 cup filling. Pour the rest onto crust.
Put 1/2 cup of filling and 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (the canned stuff works great) in a bowl and mix well with a fork (no lumps!). Add a tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice. Drizzle pumpkin mixture onto cheesecake ... Use a knife to push it down into vanilla filling and swirl it around.
Bake for about 80 minutes at 300 if using gingersnap crust in cheesecake pan ... about 50 - 60 minutes in pre-made crust or 9x13. Just watch the top for browning ... and give it the shake test ... it should wiggle a little in the middle.
Crack the oven door and leave the cake in there for about an hour. I don't know what this does, but it's an important step ...
Throw in fridge for at least 6 hours ...
Again ~ let me promise you ... you can't screw this up. I've beat the eggs too long ... used whole milk instead of cream ... used generic cream cheese instead of Philly ... used one less egg ... beat it with the whisk attachment because the beater was in the dishwasher ... with water bath and without ... you name it ...
This will turn out well and will be delicious!!! Enjoy!!!
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