Pumpkin Spice Two Layer Cheesecake

This blog is the third in my pumpkin series on ThisChemistCanCook!  I really love cheesecake and thought it would be fun (and delicious) to make a pumpkin cheesecake.  I decided to layer it to make it a little more interesting.  This recipe is for a really quick and easy cheesecake using a regular pie plate.  If you wanted to get more fancy, you could double the recipe and then put it in a springform pan for a thicker cheesecake. I based my recipe on the Kraft recipe for the 3 step cheesecake.

Ingredients

2 packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup pumpkin (canned or homemade puree - see previous blog post)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash nutmeg
(dash of cloves, if desired)
8 graham cracker blocks, crushed to crumbs (each block is 4 rectangles of crackers)
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
(or instead of the graham crackers and butter, you can use a ready made graham cracker crust)
whipped topping, if desired

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.  Take your graham crackers and put them in a big ziplock bag.  Use a meat tenderizer mallet or rolling pin to crush the graham crackers until in crumbs.

  

3.  Mix in the melted butter and stir until moistened.

  

4.  Push the graham cracker mixture onto the bottom of your pie plate.  The amounts that I listed in the ingredient list make a very thin crust.  If you want a thicker graham cracker crust, you could double both the number of cracker blocks and butter.

5.  Beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with a mixer until smooth.  Make sure the cream cheese is softened before you do this!  Add the eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing in between additions.

6.  Reserve one cup of this cream cheese mixture and set aside.

7.  Pour the remaining cream cheese mixture over the graham cracker crust in the pie plate.

8.  Using the reserved cream cheese mixture, add the pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg (and cloves, if using).

 

9.  Pour the pumpkin batter over the plain cheesecake batter in the pie plate.

10.  Bake 40 minutes until center is set.  Cool, then refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.  When serving, top with whipped topping, if desired.

 

This recipe was a big hit with my family.  And it was so easy to do!  Sometimes cheesecakes can be so tricky to make with the springform pans and water baths.  But this one is so easy you could make it on a weeknight.  The family has already asked that I make this again soon.