Pumpkin Cheesecake

Over the past week, autumn finally hit Texas. We're talking leaf colors changing, cool winds blowing, and chilly fingers thawing around mugs of hot drinks. I had to take full advantage; autumn only lasts a couple of weeks around here. First, I made this pumpkin cheesecake, which is loosely based on Paula Deen's. Then, we put up Christmas lights. Because, you know, #HalloThanksWinter is all one season nowadays.

For the ginger snap crumbs, the idea was randomly fortuitous. I was wandering the prepackaged cookie aisle at Winco and came to the sad realization that all of the graham crackers contained artificial flavors and/or high fructose corn syrup. My eyes fell upon a box of ginger snap cookies, which contained none of the above. It sounded like a good idea, and it turned out to be a great one. The ginger cuts through the richness of the cheesecake and leaves you with that lovely cozy feeling.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Ingredients:
Crust
3 cups	ginger snap crumbs
1/4 cup	cane sugar
1 tsp	salt
1 stick	melted butter
Cheesecake
16 oz (2 pkg)	cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup	sour cream, room temperature
15 oz (1 can)	pumpkin puree
1 cup	cane sugar
1/2 tsp	ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp	ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp	ground cloves
2 T	all purpose flour

Directions:
1.	Mix together the ginger snap crumbs, sugar, and salt with your hands.
2.	Add the melted butter and mix until combined. Divide the crumbs among 12 ramekins and press them into the bottoms to form solid crusts.
3.	Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (I used 325 degrees since I baked in glass ramekins instead of ceramic.)
4.	Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar together on medium-high speed until it is light and fluffy.
5.	Add the pumpkin puree, sour cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Beat until evenly mixed.
6.	Add eggs one at time, beating on low to medium speed until just incorporated.
7.	Add flour and beat until just combined.
8.	Pour the cheesecake batter into the ramekins. You can fill them almost all the way, but be careful--some might spill out on the way to the oven.
9.	Set the filled ramekins in a roasting pan. I set them on a roasting rack so that it can double as a cooling rack later.
11.	Pour hot tap water into the roasting pan until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
12.	Bake the cheesecakes for 1 hour.
13.	Remove the pan from the oven. Use the roasting rack to lift the cheesecakes out to cool.
14.	After they come to room temperature, cover each cheesecake with plastic wrap and set it in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Cheesecakes will keep in the refrigerator for several days. Serve with a fresh dollop of whipped cream and hot beverage of choice.