Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pecan Crumble Top

Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Pecan Crumble Top 

This Pumpkin Cheesecake with its Pecan Crumble Top just screams holiday dessert. The cheesecake itself has that same dense silky texture we all love in a cheesecake but it also has the flavor of a pumpkin pie thrown into the mix.  And the crust is made from those delicious honey ginger cookies from my last video.  The pumpkin puree in the recipe takes up the volume of two additional blocks of cream cheese that would normally be needed to make a cake of this size.  Essentially that trims a ton of calories and fat versus an ordinary New York cheesecake.  And the low fat cream cheese and sour cream save even more calories.  

But this is still a pretty decadent dessert so you’ll want to try to keep from overdoing it with this one.  I often live by the philosophy that a smaller serving of a sinful dessert is far more satisfying than a larger serving of a mediocre dessert.  And this one is so decadent it’s sure to make an impression at the holiday dessert table.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pecan Crumble

Prep time: 30 min

Bake time: 1 hour 15 min

Ingredients

• FOR THE CRUST:
• 3 cups gluten free ginger cookie crumbs 
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 2 tbsp sugar
• FOR THE BATTER:
• (3) 8 oz packages of light cream cheese
• 1 ½ cups dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup low fat sour cream
• 5 eggs 
• 15 oz can pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• FOR THE CRUMBLE:
• ½ cup gluten free Bisquick
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 4 tbsp cold diced butter
• ½ cup chopped pecans

Video Tutorial: 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (or 165°C) and line the exterior of a 10 inch spring form pan with foil then place it on a baking sheet to prevent any leaking into the oven. 
2. To make the crust, mix all of the crust ingredients together until the mixture resembles wet sand then dump the mixture into the bottom of the pan and press the mixture firmly along the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  A flat bottom glass with straight sides is useful for both the bottom and the sides.
3. Once the crust is formed bake it for 10 minutes then carefully remove it from the oven and let it cool.
4. To make the batter, in a mixer, cream together the cream cheese, brown sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Turn the mixer off, scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the sour cream and beat until thoroughly combined. 
5. Add the eggs one at a time until they’re all incorporated then scrape down the bowl again and add the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice then beat on medium speed for 5 minutes stopping the mixer periodically to scrape down the bowl. 
6. Pour the batter into the prepared crust and bake for 1 hour before adding the pecan layer.
7. To make the pecan crumble, stir together the gluten free Bisquick, brown sugar, and cinnamon until well combined then add the cold diced butter and using your fingers or a pastry cutter work the butter into the dry mixture until you have a coarse crumbly texture then stir in the pecans and set aside in the refrigerator until the cheesecake has baked for 1 hour.
8. Evenly sprinkle the pecan crumble over the cheesecake and raise the oven temperature to 350°F (or 175°C) then bake it for an additional 15 minutes.
9. Remove the cake from the oven, let it cool completely then cover it and refrigerate for at least 6 hours but overnight is better for the easier slicing and serving.

Notes:  For the cookie crumbs I used 14 of the honey ginger spice cookies I made in a previous video which was 3 cups by volume and 10 oz by weight.  You can substitute any other gluten free ginger cookie or graham cracker.  If you’re not following a gluten free diet you can use regular ginger cookies and also use all purpose flour instead of the gluten free Bisquick in the crumble topping.