I’ve hosted Thanksgiving for the past ten years. Since all of my family travels in and stays for several days, I’m responsible for most of the meal planning (though there’s always help when it comes to cooking.) In my family, desserts are very important. For the first few years, I monkeyed around with all the traditional desserts: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, etc.Eventually, I settled on what has kind of become my signature dish: pumpkin chocolate cheesecake. In recent years, I’ve added in a cranberry creme brûlée, but the pumpkin chocolate cheesecake is still a favorite. My niece and nephew or are deep in their grumpy teens and I’m pretty sure they’d stop coming all together if it wasn’t for the cheesecake.

Since it’s such a hit at home, I thought I’d share the recipe here. I do have a few warning. The first is that it’s not super easy to make like most cheese cakes. The second is that the recipe actually makes two cheesecakes. The third is that you’ll probably want to eat both.

 

Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake

3 cups crushed chocolate graham crackers

1/2 cup melted butter

 

Mix together. Divide equally and press into the bottom of two 9 in springform pan and bake at 325° for 10 minutes.

24 oz. Cream cheese, softened

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

8 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate, melted, slightly cooled (I used 60% Giradeli chocolate chips)

3 eggs

 

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla on medium until blended. Add chocolate, mix well. Add eggs, mixing on low. Divide equally and pour over crust.

 

32 oz. Cream cheese, softened

1 c. sugar

3 Tbsp. Flour

1 c. sour cream

1 c. canned pumpkin

2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. Nutmeg

1/2 tsp. Cloves

1 tsp. Vanilla

4 eggs

 

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, and flour on med. Add sour cream, pumpkin, spices, and vanilla. Mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, on low. Pour over chocolate mixture.

 

Bake 65 to 80 minutes or until center is almost set at 325°. Loosen cake from rim of pan, cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Store in refrigerater.