Ingredients
For the crust:
- 15 whole graham crackers (230 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
- 24 ounces (680 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
- 15 ounces (425 grams) pureed pumpkin
- 1/4 cup (77 grams) salted caramel sauce, homemade or store-bought
- 1/4 cup (57 grams) sour cream
- 3 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the topping:
- Whipped cream
- Salted caramel sauce, homemade or store-bought
Directions
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Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Make the crust:
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In the bowl of a food processor, combine the graham crackers and cinnamon. Pulse until finely ground. You should have 1 3/4 cups (230 grams) graham cracker crumbs. Add the butter and pulse until moistened. Press into the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool. Maintain oven at 325°F.
Make the cheesecake:
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In the bowl of a food processor or electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, pumpkin puree, caramel, and sour cream until smooth. Add the eggs and yolk, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, flour, and vanilla and puree until just combined. Pour over crust and spread evenly. Bake for 1 hour, or until set and dry at the edges but slightly jiggly in the center. Turn off the oven and allow to cool inside for 15 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool to room temperature (this helps prevent cracks). Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight. The cheesecake can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Top with whipped cream and caramel sauce before serving.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
For a fun twist, feel free to use Speculoos or Gingersnap cookies in place of the graham crackers! You'll need 1 3/4 cups (230 grams) of crumbs.
Delicious cheesecake that never fails to impress. I was actually introduced to this recipe by a family member who made 3 of these for Thanksgiving last year. I had one bite and I was hooked. I’ve made it multiple times since and always receive rave reviews. My mother-in-law requested the recipe as well and now it’s become a family fave. I also use the homemade caramel sauce recipe – super easy and super delicious. Love it!!
Amazing! Please thank your family member for sharing our recipe, and thanks so much for the rave review! I’ll be sure to pass this along to Tessa, it’ll make her day! So glad to hear how much you love this recipe 🙂
Which pumpkin puree brand do you recommend?? Or how do you prepare it? I am truly sad because I really want to buy your book but there are not shipments to Mexico, why is that? Where else can I buy it?
Hi Lucy! We typically use the brand Libby’s if we’re using canned; however, check out this article here detailing the differences between fresh and canned pumpkin. There’s a recipe included for homemade pumpkin puree as well 🙂 https://handletheheat.com/fresh-vs-canned-pumpkin/ As for our cookbook, we’ve unfortunately had issues in the past with shipments to Mexico and had to remove it as an option to ship to. We self published everything, so we’re currently only selling on our site; however, if you’re interested in a digital copy, please email me at [email protected], and I’d be happy to send you more details 🙂
Amazing. Not too much pumpkin and not too much like cheesecake!
So glad you love this cheesecake recipe!
I have light sour cream in my fridge. I’d it okay to use that for the recipe?
I would recommend regular sour cream if you can get it, but that should work!
Super light and totally delicious! I made it exactly as written with the minor change to ginger snaps for the crust and I poured salted caramel into the well in the middle where is sank slightly and then chilled. Oh, and I garnsished with sugared pecans. But all that was incidental to the basic recipe which is just perfect. Beat cream cheese well and add ingredients slowly and there are no lumps. I think the vigorous beating is one reason why it is so light. Perfect. Thanks!
A gingersnap crust sounds delicious! I’m so glad you tried this recipe out.
Excellent creamy texture, pumpkinny but not excessively so for those who are moderate on pumpkin spice. A huge hit at my 14-person thankgiving dinner last night. I couldn’t find speculoos cookies, so I crushed up some maple sandwich cookies in the crust, and decorated the top with Stroopwaffels (a dutch wafer cookie) I definitely recommend using the linked recipe for homemade caramel – You’ll hve some left over to drizzle over your cappuccino or dip appples in!!
This was insanely delicious, fluffy, light but also rich, perfectly sweet, and just perfect for Thanksgiving. I guess it’s been months since I made it, but I just remembered I never gave you the review you deserve! I can’t say enough good things about this dessert. My dad is normally a vegan and makes an exception for my holiday desserts. He devoured this and said “This is GOOD. I can’t believe how light and fluffy this is!”. It was the favorite dessert of the party (and one of the other desserts was made by a professional chef!). The hosts of the party wouldn’t even let me bring the leftovers home, saying “we are eating that tomorrow! It was too good to give it back!”. Thanks for letting me be the star of the show with this amazing recipe!