Fabulous Pumpkin Cheesecake

Many of you wrote me to let me know how much you loved my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, so I thought that it is only fair for me to share another of my favorite pumpkin recipes with you. This is my pumpkin cheesecake recipe that has gone through very many variations and this is the one that I finally settled on. NOTE: If you or your family do not like gingersnaps you can always make this with a graham cracker crust.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs
• 3/4 cup ground hazelnuts
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups canned solid pack pumpkin
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 4 eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch springform pan.
2. Using a fork, combine gingersnaps, hazelnuts, 3 tablespoons brown sugar and melted butter. Press mixture onto the bottom and two inches up the sides of the pan to form the crust.
3. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the pumpkin. Mix in the cream, maple syrup, cinnamon, allspice and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 90 minutes, or until center of cheesecake is set. Allow to cool in pan for 30 minutes, then refrigerate overnight.