Cooking With Rania: Pumpkin Cheesecake

Rania Harris, of Rania’s Catering, is starting to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner, starting with dessert!

Cheesecake Recipe is as follows:

Crust:

½ cup gingersnap crumbs
Filling:

2 pounds cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
1/3 cups flour, sifted
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 eggs
2 cups pumpkin puree
Topping:

1 cup heavy cream
½ cup chopped pecans
Crust:
Sprinkle the gingersnap crumbs onto the bottom and sides of a well-buttered 9-inch spring-form pan. Chill until ready for filling.

Filling:
In large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, salt and eggs until smooth. Add the pumpkin puree and continue to beat until very smooth. Pour the mixture into the chilled spring-form pan and bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 ½ hours. Turn off the oven and let cake stand in the open oven for 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Topping:
Carefully remove sides of spring-form pan. In a chilled bowl, whip the heavy cream and spread it over the top of the cake. Sprinkle the chopped pecans on top of the whipped cream. Transfer to serving dish and serve.

Serves: 12 – 16