Spiced Pumpkin Ckeesecake with Gingersnap Crust

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

Crust:

about 40 gingersnap wafers( to yield 2 cups cookie crumbs)

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Crust: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Pulse the cookies and brown sugar in a food processor until the crumbs are uniform.  Transfer to a medium bowl, and add the melted butter.  Combine thoroughly, first with a spoon and then with your fingers, until the mixture is evenly moist, crumbly, and holds together when you squeeze a handful.  Press evenly over the bottom and partway up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.  Chill for 5 minutes and then bake for 10 minutes.  Let cool.

Filling:

4 -8 ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature

1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon table salt

4 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon vanilla

1-15 ox can pure sold-pack pumpkin

Filling:

Heat a kettle of water.  With an electric mixer or a wooden spoon, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  In a separate bowl, whisk the brown sugar with the cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and salt; add this to the cream cheese.  Beat until well blended, scraping the bowl as needed.  Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, making sure each is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next, and scraping the bowl after each.  Blend in the vanilla and pumpkin.

Scrape the batter into the cooled crust.  The batter will come up past the crust and will fill the pan to the rim.  Tap the pan gently once or twice on the counter to release any air bubbles.  Set the pan in a large baking dish (a roasting pan is good), and add enough hot water from the kettle to come about halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake until the top of the cake looks deep golden and burnished and the center is set(the cake may just barely begin to crack), 1 hour 35 minutes -1 hour 45 minutes. The cake will jiggle a little bit when tapped.  The top may rise a bit but will settle as it cools.

Remove the cheesecake from the oven and run a thin-bladed knife between the crust and the pan sides (this will prevent the cake from breaking as it cool).  Let the cheesecake cool to room temperature in the pan on a wire rack.  Cover and chill overnight.  Just before removing the cheesecake from the pan, gently run a knife around the pan's inside edge.