A New Thanksgiving Tradition
Today’s recipe is a marriage of two flavors and two favorite desserts: creamy cheesecake (my favorite) and pumpkin pie (Zach’s favorite!). Served over a crisp, crumbly graham cracker crust, this is a fall-flavored masterpiece that deserves a spot on your Thanksgiving table!
What’s to love:
- So smooth and creamy. The secret is to not over-mix the batter, which can create an unpleasant texture. I talk more about this below!
- Easy! It’s less fussy and less stressful than a classic cheesecake or pumpkin pie, plus the flavors blend together fabulously.
- Freezes beautifully. Either by the slice or as a whole. Instructions for this are below!
- Fun Thanksgiving tradition. Why choose between two classics when you can have both? I love a unique Thanksgiving dessert!
What You Need
It’s important that all of your ingredients are at room temperature before starting this recipe (this prevents over-mixing!). Here are the key ingredients in this pumpkin cheesecake pie.
- Cream cheese. As always, make sure you are using full-fat, block-style cream cheese to make this pumpkin pie cheesecake. I say this with each and every one of my cheesecake recipes because it is SO important–spreadable or low-fat cream cheese simply won’t work!
- Pumpkin puree. Just like the rest of my pumpkin recipes, you want to make sure to use pumpkin puree and NOT pumpkin pie filling here. They look similar and are sold right next to each other, but they are not the same thing! I talk more about this below.
- Brown sugar. Adding brown sugar to the crust and the filling makes this pumpkin cheesecake pie SO flavorful and cozy. It’s subtle, but it does make a difference.
- Pumpkin spice. Also known as pumpkin pie spice, this is a blend of warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice. If you don’t have this on hand (it’s sold in the spice aisle!), you can make your own homemade pumpkin spice.
- Sour cream. If you’ve made any of my cheesecake recipes, you know that sour cream is a must-have ingredient–i’s what makes cheesecake taste like cheesecake! If you don’t have sour cream, you could use plain, full-fat Greek yogurt instead.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
- Stir together the graham cracker crumbs and sugars, then add the melted butter and toss with a fork to combine.
- Firmly press the crumbs into a 9″ pie plate, making sure to work them into the bottom and up the sides. Set aside.
- Cream together the cream cheese and sugars with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth. There should be no lumps!
- Stir in the sour cream and vanilla, then add the eggs and mix on low speed until just incorporated.
- Portion 1 ½ cups of the batter into a separate bowl.
- Add the pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice to the batter you portioned out and stir until combined.
- Alternate adding dollops of each batter into your prepared crust (I use this technique in my pumpkin cheesecake bars, too, it has such a pretty end effect!).
- Use a knife to swirl everything together into a pretty design, then bake until the edges are set, the center may be slightly jiggly still but should be mostly set. Let cool at room temperature for an hour, then place in the fridge overnight.
