While browsing recipes to try for Thanksgiving this year, I stumbled upon this delicious and simple marbled pumpkin cheesecake. I don’t know about you, but I have an intense love for cheesecake. Like, a have it as my wedding cake someday love for cheesecake.

As much as I love eating cheesecake, which is clearly a lot, I enjoy baking it even more. Have you ever seen Waitress? It’s one of my all-time favorite movies, and in it the main actress (Keri Russel) creates amazing pies. Her baking skills, independent attitude, and fortuitous friendship with an elderly man named Joe ultimately lead to her transformation as a successful business owner. I like to pretend I’m her when I’m trying out a new cheesecake creation. A girl can dream, right? Anyways, I digress. I found this pumpkin cheesecake recipe on Pinterest, and I knew it would be the perfect dessert to bring on Turkey Day.

It was cheesy. It was pumpkin-y. It was delicious. And the best part is that if you can mix stuff together, you are qualified to make this delicious dessert. I think it would work just as well at Christmas as it did at Thanksgiving. Happy baking!

Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust

• 1¼ cup graham cracker crumbs

• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spices (I substituted ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and ½ teaspoon of nutmeg)

• ¼ cup melted butter

Filling

• 2 packages of 8oz cream cheese at room temperature

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 2 tablespoons heavy cream

• 1 egg

• 1 cup of pumpkin puree

• 1/3 cup brown sugar

• ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spices (I substituted a dash of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375ºF.
2. In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs with spices and melted butter. Press evenly into the bottom of a 9″ springform pan.
3. Refrigerate crust for 5-10 minutes.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, granulated sugar and heavy cream. Mix on low speed until fluffy.
5. Add the egg. Blend well.
6. Reserve and set aside 2/3 of the cream cheese mixture.
7. Add the pumpkin puree, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spices to the remaining cheese mixture.
8. Blend well.
9. Pour the pumpkin cheesecake batter over the chilled crust. Spread evenly.
10. Using a spoon, drop dollops of the reserved cream cheese mixture onto the pumpkin cheesecake batter. Using a knife, make swirls to create a marbled effect.
11. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the center is set.
12. Turn the oven off, leave the door open and let the cheesecake cool for at least 1 hour.
13. Refrigerate for a few hours before slicing.

And ta-da! You have a yummy and festive holiday dessert! I adapted this recipe from the one found on roxanashomebaking.com. You can reference the original recipe here. 

xoxo

Sarah

*Top pic is also taken from roxanashomebaking.com. The rest are my own.