Cheesecake is the new pie. If you don't believe it, just make this Spiced Cheesecake for Thanksgiving dessert and see who pays attention to the pie!
Just look at that impressive situation! It begged to be shot with velvet, like a fancy painting.
There's fresh ginger in the chocolaty crust as well as in the filling. Traditional spices like ground ginger and cinnamon also lace the rich, cream cheese filling. It's also no-fail. The crust gets pressed into the pan and that little touch of oil in the crust mixture keeps it slightly soft so it doesn't shatter to crumbs with every bite. The filling is blended up in one bowl and poured into the crust and baked. The parchment circle on the bottom allows the cheesecake to slide right off the pan bottom onto a serving platter.
Raise both hands in the air because YOU JUST WON!
Happy baking my friends!
Spiced Cheesecake With Chocolate-Ginger Crust
Ingredients
Crust
- 12 ounces (53 cookies) chocolate wafer cookies such as Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1½ tablespoons grated fresh ginger
Filling
- 4 packages (8 ounce packages) cream cheese
- 1⅓ cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 2½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 4 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 4 cups heavy cream
- ⅔ cup confectioners' sugar
- Chocolate curls optional
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400°F with rack in the lower third. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with a circle of parchment; set aside.
- In a food processor crush chocolate cookies and sugar until mixture is fine crumbs. Stir together oil, butter and grated ginger and drizzle into mixture, pulsing until combined. Press mixture into the pan so crust is about ⅜ inch thick on the bottom and all the way up the sides (you may have a little extra). Set crust aside.
- For the filling: In a mixer beat together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and grated ginger until there are no lumps. Mix in the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger. Add eggs and yolks one at a time, mixing in completely and scraping sides of bowl as needed between each addition, until completely combined.
- Place springform pan on a foil-lined baking sheet and pour filling into crust. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 200°F. Loosely cover cheesecake with greased foil and cook until center is just slightly wobbly and cake is set, about 1 hour and 10 minutes more. Cool on a wire rack completely, then chill 4 hours or overnight.
- To serve: Whip cream and confectioners' sugar to firm peaks and swirl on top of cheesecake; sprinkle with chocolate curls if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Cake recipes for any occasion
About Tara Teaspoon
I’ve been in the food publishing business for over 20 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television & advertising. Order my new cookbook & stick around for amazing things to eat.
Recipe by Tara Bench. Photography by Seth Smoot. Food Styling Sara Neumeier. Prop Styling Michelle Wong. Originally published in LHJ Nov 2012,
Mary Bench says
This is gorgeous! What an exquisite dessert!
Brittany Smart says
Wow what a cool crust!!
Amy says
I'm not sure what this means, can you help? "4 oz (4-8 oz pkgs) cream cheese".
Thanks!
Tara Teaspoon says
This is four 8-ounce packages. So 4 normal sized packages of cream cheese. Thanks for catching the typo. all fixed.