- Hey guys, today I'm gonna share with you my recipe
for a chocolate pumpkin cheesecake.
It's a really spectacular dessert idea that is perfect
for Halloween that's coming up or also for Thanksgiving.
It's pretty simply to do, and the whole thing can really
be made ahead and just refrigerated,
and then when it comes time to serve, all you have to do
is slice and dig in.
Let me show you how to put it together.
So we're first gonna begin by creating our crust.
So for this, you're gonna need two cups
of chocolate cookie crumbs.
So basically, that's about nine ounces of either
chocolate wafers, or you could use the chocolate
sandwich cookies and just scrape out the filling.
So you're gonna grind those either in a food processor
or you also could put them in a Ziploc bag
and give them a whack with the rolling pin.
Then we're gonna place the crumbs in a large bowl,
and to that we're gonna add five tablespoons
of unsalted butter.
And we just wanna mix that up with a fork until everything
is nice and combined.
If you feel like it's still a little bit too dry
and the crumb is not coming together,
you can just a little bit more melted butter.
Then we're gonna pour the crumbs into a greased
springform cheesecake pan.
And then I just like to kind of level out the crumbs
to make sure that everything is even and then go
with my hand and press down the crumbs
and then kind of fist bump it up the side
to create a nice crust.
And at this point, it really doesn't matter if those edges
are perfect, because I think this is what's gonna make
for a really dramatic cheesecake, to have those little
jagged edges.
Then you're gonna place your pan in a 325-degree
Fahrenheit oven for anywhere from 10 to 12 minutes.
Then you can take it out and allow it to cool
while you prep the filling.
So in a large bowl, we're gonna add two
eight ounce tubs of whipped cream cheese.
I like the whipped variety because I think it adds
to a lighter cheesecake.
But if you can't find the whipped, you could also use
the brick kind.
You want it nice and soft because then we're going to add
our two eggs and our three egg yolks.
Then we're gonna add three quarters cup
of just plain white sugar.
You can give that a whisk and make sure that's all combined.
And then here comes the pumpkin.
We're gonna add 115-ounce can of pure pumpkin puree.
And then to that we're gonna add a quarter teaspoon of salt
and one teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.
Now I know pumpkin pie spice can be difficult to find
outside of the US.
It's definitely, I think, an American thing
that we tend to bake with a lot this time of year,
but if you wanna know how to make it,
I'll leave you a link in the description
that will show you how.
It's a fun thing to have on hand.
You can have a little taste of America
in your spice cabinet.
Then we're also gonna add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
So you can combine all of that
until it's nicely incorporated,
and then at this point we are going to add
a quarter cup of all-purpose flour.
And then you can mix that up.
I really love to add a little bit of flour
in my cheesecakes because I find that, that really
sets the cheesecake a lot better and it will also alleviate
having to create a water bath when you bake your cheesecake.
Then you're gonna take your cheesecake filling
and you're gonna pour it into your cooled crust.
And then here comes the fun part.
We're gonna take two ounces of melted bittersweet chocolate
and you are going to spoon little dollops of it
all the way around the cheesecake,
just in a large circle, about an inch or so apart.
And at this stage it doesn't have to be perfect
because we're gonna swirl this chocolate anyway.
So if it starts to drip or make little drizzles,
that's okay.
Then you're going to run a long skewer through your circles,
just creating a really nice swirly twirly pattern.
And really, it's up to you how swirly and twirly
you wanna go.
(chuckles)
You can just do it slightly, which I kinda like
because I find that the simpler in some way,
the more sophisticated and the better.
But if you really wanna load it up,
you could swirl and twirl until that whole cheesecake
looks like a big cob web.
So really up to you, this is where your artistry
will come in.
Then we're gonna bake our cheesecake
in a 325-degree oven
for at least one hour.
Now here's the thing: I typically will set it
for 50 minutes and then check it at that point.
If it's still jiggling like really loosely,
it probably needs another 10 minutes.
If it looks like it's set and it's just jiggling slightly,
I would take it out because I find that cheesecakes,
it's better for it to be a little bit underbaked
than overbaked, because if it's underbaked
it will still set up in the fridge when you refrigerated it.
But if it's overbaked, you're gonna get
cheesecakes with cracks.
So if you've ever had that happen to you
where you've had a cheesecake with cracks in it,
chances are it was overbaked.
Then once it's done, you can take it out of the oven
and allow it to cool.
You really want to let it cool down for at least
30 to 40 minutes.
And then I don't cover it because if you cover it with foil,
it will end up having some condensation on the top
which then drips onto the pumpkin
and will start to discolor the pumpkin.
So you don't want that to happen.
So just put it in just as is in your fridge
for anywhere from four hours to overnight is even better,
and that will really allow your cheesecake
to set up beautifully.
Then you can place your cheesecake on a cake stand
and bring it to the table and let everybody
be very impressed by it.
(chuckles)
There's something so dramatic about this cake.
it's beautiful, it's festive and to me,
it feels very homey.
When you bite into it, you will see just how
delicious it is.
You've got that crunchy, chocolatey cookie crumb
mixed with that lightly spiced velvety pumpkin cheesecake.
And of course, those little chocolate swirls on top.
I hope you subscribe for more quick and easy recipes,
and I will see you back here next week for another one.
Until then, bye.
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