Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Graham Cracker Crust.

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I love anything and everything pumpkin except for pie.  I have no idea why, I just have never been fond of the texture.  So I wanted to test out a mini pumpkin cheesecake recipe in preparation for Thanksgiving and use my new mini pie pan in the process.  These came out perfectly with a lovely texture.  Not overly sweet but with the perfect balance of pumpkiny (yes, I know, not a real word) flavor.  The crust is homemade and “rustic”.  It’s very forgiving as it only has two ingredients.  I’m all over personal sized desserts too for portion control and for the cuteness factor.


Crust:

1 cup of graham cracker crumbs (see description for how to)
8 tablespoons of real, unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your mini muffin pan or if you are making a regular sized pie, spray that pan.  Set aside.  Into your food processor, place about 10 full graham crackers.  Pulse until it looks like sand.  Measure out one cup.  If you need more, repeat until you have enough.  I used homemade graham crackers that were a bit larger.  Melt your butter and then add it to the crumb mixture.  Pulse a few times until you can press the dough in between your fingers and it sticks together.  If it’s too dry, add additional melted butter.  This will depend on your crackers.  Then spoon out the crumb mixture into each of your pie wells or your pie pan.  Press it up the sides until it makes a nice even crust.  Avoid being too thick or too thin.  I use the back of a spoon to compact it.

Bake for 6-8 minutes or until golden.  Remove and let cool.

Cheesecake filling:

1 -8 ounce package of cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of pumpkin
1 egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons of heavy cream, I used organic
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or paste
2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Into your stand mixer with paddle attached, blend the cream cheese, sugar and pumpkin together until smooth.  Add the egg and blend.  Then add the cream, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.  Scrape down the sides and blend again.  Then pour your mixture into each prepared shell.  Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remove and let sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Then refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.  Top with whipped cream if you desire.

— Knead to Cook

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4 Comments

  1. Beautiful picture! Wow, this was posted right on time- turns out my relative bought a bunch of pies- except pumpkin. You see, I love me some pumpkin, but didn’t want to bring another pie. This looks delicious! Thank you so much!