I’m officially ready for fall. The kids go back to school next week and I’m seriously ready for fall weather, my favorite, a chill in the air, sweaters, jeans and PUMPKIN! It is seriously one of my favorite things to cook with. Pumpkin is great for you too so it’s a double bonus in my eyes.
Today I whipped up mini pumpkin cheesecake bites with a lovely ginger cookie crust. Everyone who has sampled these just adored them. Great dessert item or after-school snack.
Ingredients:
I used Triple Ginger Trader Joe’s cookies (but any gingersnap cookie will do). These cookies are mini size and I used 40 of them.
4 tablespoons of butter, melted
8 ounces of light or low fat cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup (heaping) of pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray your muffin pan with nonstick baking spray. Set aside. In your food processor, add the cookies and process until they resemble a fine powder. Add the butter and blend. It should be able to be pinched between two fingers at this point and be sticky. If not, add a tiny bit more of butter.
Press about a tablespoon of the crumb mixture into the bottom of each muffin tin. Then press the mixture down with the bottom of a shot glass. See photo:
Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
In your stand mixer, paddle attached, blend the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Then add the egg, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Scrap down the sides and blend again. Add the pumpkin and blend again. Spoon on top of each crust. Again, this was about a tablespoon amount. Smooth out evenly. I did top some of the cheesecakes with a few chocolate chips (optional). Bake for 25 minutes. Remove and let cool completely before removing. Store in a tupperware container in the refrigerator.
— Knead to Cook
YUM! these look good…. I love pumpkin cheesecake and these would be perfect. I have pinned them for a later date.
These look delicious! Seriously, pumpkin is one of my favorite fall foods too! So many yummy things can be made with it!
Cristina, I’m in love. I love fall and pumpkin. I’ll be overloading in the upcoming weeks 🙂 oxoxo Robin
Look amazing, I think I’ll be making them for our small group this week!
How many does the recipe make?
I’m sorry I didn’t note it. Hmmmm… trying to remember. I want to say 12-14 or so.
Hello! I can’t wait to make this recipe, but the only gingersnaps I could find seemed to be “regular” sized. Would you be able to estimate about how much crushed cookie powder I’ll need? (1 cups, 2 cups?)
Thanks!
Sarah
Sarah, When I created this recipe I didn’t make enough and went back and made another additional batch for the crust without incident. I would start out with 20 of them because they’re probably half as big as the ones I used. Again, if you need more for crust, just make a smaller batch. It’s quite forgiving. Let me know how it comes out 🙂 Robin
This looks like a great recipe for us gluten free folks too! It’s pretty easy to find gluten free ginger snaps at the grocery store, and the rest of the ingredients are all safe. Love that!
I’ve been trying to focus on GF lately too! Hope you love this recipe 🙂