Salted Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake
November is here and baking season is upon us! Fall is the perfect time to indulge in pumpkin-flavored goodies. Be sure to include these Salted Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake bites to your dessert spread this Thanksgiving.
LEVEL: Intermediate
Ingredients
Ingredients for Crust:
• 9 graham crackers or 2 cups ground crackers
• 3 tbs sugar
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• 1 stick unsalted butter
Ingredients for Filling:
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp all spice
• 1 can pumpkin (dried in paper towel)
• 1 ½ pounds of cream cheese
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 5 large eggs (room temp)
• 1 cup heavy cream
Ingredients for Topping:
• 2 jars caramel sauce
• Pinch of salt
Method of Preparation
1. Preheat M or E Series Oven to convection at 325 degrees using the center rack.
2. Line 3, twenty-four cup, muffin pans with baking cups. Mix all the dry crust ingredients together in a bowl (sugar and spices).
3. Melt 1 stick of butter and mix with dry crust ingredients until mixture is wet. Take a heaping teaspoon of crust and press into each baking cup.
4. Cook until golden brown on the edges about 9-10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
5. Whisk sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, cloves, and all spice together.
6. Dry pumpkin filling in between 3 layers of paper towel and parchment paper to release some of the moisture. Does not need to be completely dry.
7. Cut cream cheese into small cubes and cream until smooth, beat in half the sugar mixture and scrape, add rest of sugar mixture, repeat, then add vanilla, lemon juice, and pumpkin until combined.
8. Incorporate one egg at a time and make sure the bowl is scraped after each egg. Beat in cream until smooth. Filling should have no lumps. Once the mixture is smooth, add in the heavy cream and mix for about 1 minute. Scrape bowl and give a final mix by hand.
9. If using the convection steam oven skip this step, put cheesecake into oven for about 10-12 minutes. Pour filling on top of the crust using a small ice cream scoop. Fill a roasting pan with water half-way up the desired cheesecake pan. Cook until coagulated about 15-20 minutes.
10. Cool cheesecakes down in fridge or freezer. Add caramel and salt once completely cooled.
