Ingredients
Scale
Whipped Cream:
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- 2 t. vanilla extract
- 2 T. real maple syrup
Crust:
- 1 ½ c. crushed gingersnap cookies (approximately 25-30 cookies)
- 2 T. unsalted butter, melted
Pumpkin Cheesecake:
- 8 oz. package cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 t. salt
- 3/4 c. canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
- 1 T. Greek yogurt
- 1 egg
- 1 t. pure vanilla extract
- 2 t. ground cinnamon
- 1 t. ground nutmeg
- 1 t. ground ginger
- ½ t. ground cloves
Optional garnish:
- Salted Caramel Crunch (pictured)
- Caramel sauce
- Chopped nuts
Instructions
- In a large glass bowl, blend 1 pint of heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract with a hand or immersion blender until it doubles in size and changes the texture.
- Then, drizzle maple syrup into the bowl and continue blending until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Set aside or place in refrigerator until ready to use.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray 24-cup mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- Put the cookies in a large heavy-duty freezer bag and cover with a towel.
- Pound bag with a meat mallet or rolling pin until cookies are uniformly crushed into very small pieces. This can also be done in a food processor.
- Transfer the crushed cookies to a glass bowl and add melted butter.
- Stir with a fork until thoroughly combined. Add a little more melted butter to hold cookie crumb mixture together, if necessary. However, do not add too much or the butter will compete with the flavor of the gingersnap crust.
- Divide the cookie crumb mixture into 24 equal parts and press the mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup firmly with your fingers to form a crust.
- Bake in preheated oven for 8 – 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, brown sugar, and salt with a hand-held mixer.
- Add the pumpkin puree and Greek yogurt to the cream cheese mixture and continue beating until combined.
- Crack the egg in a separate bowl before adding it to the cream cheese mixture.
- Then blend in vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Continue blending until all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated into the batter.
- Evenly divide the pumpkin cream cheese mixture between the 24 muffin-tin cups, placing it on top of the pre-baked cookie crust. Fill each cup slightly higher than the edge of the pan.
- Place muffin tin on center rack of oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned and the pumpkin mixture has set.
- Remove from oven and cool completely before removing mini-cheesecakes from tin.
- Refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving.
- To serve, top with whipped cream and salted-caramel crunch or your favorite caramel sauce. If using homemade whipped cream, spoon it into a plastic sandwich bag and cut a small corner off one bottom side. Pipe onto individual mini-cheesecakes for greater control.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
