This is one of my crowd pleasers, especially at Thanksgiving. It is called Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake and it is very attractive also with the cream cheese swirled throughout the pumpkin. It looks like it takes a half a day to make when it is really very simple, especially if you skip the home made crust which I usually tend to do.

Ingredients for the filling are as follows:

3 packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup of sugar, divided
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup of canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Ingredients for the crust:

2 cups of finely crushed ginger snaps
1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans
6 tablespoons of butter or margarine melted

Now if there are time constraints, the crust can take a while to make and for me is not always successful so if I am pushed for time I use a pre-made graham crust.

For the crust mix the ginger snap crumbs, pecans and butter and press onto the bottom and two inches up he side of a 9 inch pie dish.

For the filling beat the cream cheese - 3/4 cup of the gar and vanilla until well blended, add eggs, one at a time and mix at low speed after each addition just until blended. Reserve 1 and 1/2 cups of the plain batter, stir the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, pumpkin and cinnamon into remaining batter. Spoon 1/2 of the pumpkin batter over the crust and top with spoonfuls of 1/2 of the reserved plain batter, then repeat layers. Cut through batter with knife several times for the marbled swirl effect.

Bake at 325 degrees for 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool and then refrigerate for four hours or overnight. Serves 10 to 12 people, depending on how generous you slice the cheesecake. Enjoy!

Learn more about this author, Margaret Ryder.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Recipes: Pumpkin cheesecake?
We want to hear your view. Write now!