The Village Tea Room’s Pumpkin Cheesecake

Do you love pumpkin? Do you love cheesecake? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, you should seriously consider making this pumpkin cheesecake.

I happen to love pumpkin cheesecake. It’s up there with my favorite desserts of all time, and it makes a great Thanksgiving dessert. I have made this pumpkin cheesecake recipe which is made with yogurt before, and loved it, but when Agnes Devereux agreed to share her recipe, I couldn’t contain my happiness. You see, I’ve admired The Village Tearoom’s pumpkin cheesecake from afar for several years now (yes, I stare at it in the dessert case each fall whenever I’m in the restaurant), but I’ve never had the pleasure of eating it.

In the interest of full disclosure, the pumpkin cheesecake in the photos was not made by me. I did make the recipe, but then last minute decided to freeze mine so we can have it as one of our Thanksgiving desserts (I froze the cheesecake in the crust and plan to add the topping and caramel sauce on Thanksgiving Day). So I popped into the restaurant (a definite benefit of living only 10 minutes away) and bought the slice you see here for the photos. Then I ate it. So I know it’s good!

It’s not just good, though. It’s great. It’s the best pumpkin cheesecake I’ve tasted by far. Try it and I am sure you’ll agree!

Recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Swirl
This fantastic recipe is courtesy of Agnes Devereux of The Village TeaRoom, Restaurant and Bake Shop in New Paltz, NY.. It make two cheesecakes (cut the recipe in half if you only want to make one)

You will need two 8” spring form pans, wrapped in heavy duty tinfoil

For the crusts:

Ingredients:
3 cups ground gingersnap cookies
1 cup toasted pecans
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5.5 oz. unsalted butter, melted

Directions for the crusts:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grind ground cookies, pecans and sugar in processor. Add melted butter and blend until combined. Press crust mixture onto bottom and up sides of 8” springform pans.

For the Filling:

Ingredients:

3 lbs cream cheese, preferably organic, at room temperature
17.5 oz. sugar, preferably organic
1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
2 1/4 cups fresh pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
6 Tb. whipping cream, preferably organic
1 ½ teaspoon ground allspice
6 large eggs, preferably organic and free-range

Directions:

Using mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until light. Transfer 1 ½ cups mixture to small bowl; cover tightly and refrigerate to use for topping.

Add pumpkin, 6 tablespoons whipping cream, ground cinnamon and ground allspice to mixture in large bowl and beat until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating just until combined.

Pour filling into crust (filling will almost fill pan). Bake until cheesecake puffs, top browns and center moves only slightly when pan is shaken, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Transfer cheesecake to rack and cool 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around cake pan sides to loosen cheesecake. Cool. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

For the Caramel Sauce:

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar, preferably organic
2 Tb. corn syrup (I used agave syrup instead)
½ cup water
1 cup heavy cream, preferably organic
2 oz. butter, preferably organic
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Heat sugar, water and syrup in a heavy bottomed pan, whisking constantly. When the syrup is clear, turn heat up and bring to a boil. Cook, continuing to stir, until amber coloured/380°F (very very hot…please be careful handling the hot pan). Remove from heat and pour in the cream (be careful when you do this, because it will bubble up). Stir in butter and vanilla. Set aside to cool and use on top of the cheesecake.

Finishing the Cheesecake:

Add heavy cream to refrigerated cream cheese mixture and stir to combine. Spread cream cheese mixture over cheesecake evenly. Drizzle caramel sauce in concentric circles over cream cheese mixture. Using tip of knife, swirl caramel sauce into a spider web-like pattern. Enjoy.