Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Molasses Sauce
I love cheesecake. I have spent many years trying to get my basic cheesecake recipe right.
Through much trial and error I feel I have finally perfected it and once you have a really good basic recipe for a cake or cheesecake you can adapt things to make it just about any flavor you want. Which is so much fun!
So I have made this basic recipe into many different flavors but this is probably one of my favorites. I love pumpkin flavored things which is one of my favorite things about Fall. It is just such a cozy flavor and I love it when the leaves start to change, it gets brisk outside and the scarves and hats come out along with all things pumpkin.
I like to make this recipe every year for Thanksgiving and people just love it. There usually aren’t any leftovers of this cheesecake so don’t expect to have a second piece the next day!
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Molasses Sauce
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
NOTE: I put 35 minutes for prep time which about what you will spend actually mixing things up, but you do need to make this the day before you want to serve it so it has time to chill.
Recipe By: Megan
Recipe type: Dessert, Cake
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
For the Crust- 1 box ginger snaps
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cube butter, melted
- ¾ cup pecans
For the Filling - 4 (8oz) packages cream cheese
- 1¼ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- ¾ cup pureed pumpkin
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ¼ground cloves
- ½ nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sour cream
- 4 eggs
For the Bourbon Molasses Sauce - ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup plus 4 tablespoons water, divided
- 3 tablespoons whiskey
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1½ tablespoons molasses
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Preparation Instructions
- The first thing you want to do is take the eggs and cream cheese out of the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature.
- TIP: If you place the eggs in a bowl of warm water you can get them to room temperature a lot faster.
- Preheat oven to 325º. Bring a large teapot full of water to a boil and cover the outside of the spring form pan in foil. Use the large size, not the small or it will leak (you are going to be doing a water bath so you will need a large roasting pan or something you can put the spring form inside of).
- Meanwhile in a food processor combine ginger snaps, sugar and pecans, pulse until crumbly. Melt butter, add to crumbs and pulse until moist. Dump the crumbs into a 10” spring form pan, spread around so they are fairly level and then press into the bottom and up the sides of the pan, set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine cream cheese and sugar, beat on medium-high until smooth and creamy.
- Next add pumpkin, all the spices, salt and vanilla, mix until smooth.
- Add the eggs one at a time on lowest speed, scraping the bowl in between each addition.
- Once you have added all the eggs, add the sour cream.
- Pour into the spring form.
- Place the spring form inside a large roasting pan and place in the oven with the rack pulled out. Pour the water from the teapot in the roasting pan so that it comes about half way up the sides of the spring form. Close the oven and bake about an hour. Try not to open the oven as it will let the moisture out and you need to keep it moist to keep it from cracking (especially if like me, you live at high altitude, then this becomes extremely important).
- To test for doneness jiggle the pan just a bit and see if the top is set, the inside will still be jiggly but the top will seem set. I hope that makes sense. If it is set, close the oven door and turn the oven off and allow to cool in the oven for an hour. Then open the oven door and allow to cool for another hour, then remove from water bath and set it on the counter and allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate overnight.
- To make the sauce bring sugar and 2 Tbsp water to a boil in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
- Boil, without stirring, swirling pan occasionally so caramel colors evenly, until caramel is an amber color.
- Remove from heat and stir in remaining ¼ cup water, then stir in bourbon, butter, molasses, and salt.
- Return to heat and simmer, stirring, to dissolve any hardened caramel if necessary.
- TIP: If you already have some homemade caramel you can simply use that. Just heat it a bit and add the bourbon and molasses OR if you want you can leave the bourbon out but up the molasses to 3 tablespoons.
is a self taught home cook who enjoys cooking healthy and simple foods and delectable desserts for her husband and kids and the frequent last-minute dinner guests her husband shows up with.
Latest posts by Megan (see all)
- Huckleberry Plum Pie - January 1, 2017
- Fresh Mango Sorbet - July 17, 2016
- Steak Caesar Salad - June 8, 2016
(Visited 937 times, 1 visits today)