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Gingerbread Crust Cheesecake

Aleta
Bring on the holiday season and impress your friends and family with this incredibly delicious Gingerbread Crust Cheesecake.
5 from 15 votes
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 1 hour
Cooling Time 9 hours
Total Time 2 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine Canadian
Servings 16 slices

Ingredients
  

Gingerbread

  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup molasses
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1.75 cups flour
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp all spice
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 3/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda

Cheesecake

  • 1/2 cup butter unsalted
  • 4 x 8 oz full fat cream cheese room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 4 eggs room temperature
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1.25 cups full fat sour cream room temperature

Whipped Cream

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2 tsp icing sugar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

Equipment Needed

Directions

    Gingerbread

    • In a medium bowl combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, salt, baking powder and baking soda then set aside.
    • In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment whip the butter and brown sugar until fully combined then stir in molasses, egg and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
    • Heat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with the non stick baking mat and set aside. Lay a piece of wax paper down on a large counter space. Place half of the dough onto the wax paper and place a second sheet of wax paper over the dough. Roll out the dough in between the two sheets until it is 1/2 cm thick.
    • Cut out 16 small shapes and move each to the baking sheet. I chose trees but stars, mini gingerbread people or even hearts would be perfect for this. If they are hard to remove from the paper, use a floured icing spatula and be very gentle or refrigerate the dough longer. Bake for 4 minutes, then cool completely on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack.
    • Mix the leftover dough with the second half and place on a sheet of parchment paper. Cover with wax paper and roll out until it is 1 cm thick, then remove the wax paper and place the parchment paper with the rolled out dough onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely on the baking sheet.
    • Decorate the gingerbread cookies if you desire. Wrap the gingerbread sheet and cookies in plastic until it's time to make the cheesecake.

    Cheesecake

      Crust

      • Heat oven to 350°. Spray the inside of the 10" springform pan with cooking oil and wrap the bottom half with heavy duty tin foil, using one single sheet, making sure the tin foil comes up the sides of the springform as much as possible, without any seams.
      • Melt butter in a medium sized bowl and set aside. Break the sheet of gingerbread into chunks and place all of it inside the food processor. Process into crumbs, then pour 2 cups into the bowl with the melted butter and store the remaining crumbs in a sealed bag for later. Dump the buttered crumbs into the 10" springform and press into the bottom with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool. 

      Cheesecake

      • In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, whip the cream cheese until completely smooth. Scrape the bowl then mix in sugar, salt and cornstarch. Scrape the bowl again then mix in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla and sour cream. 
      • Bring the kettle of water to a boil and place the 10" springform pan inside the roasting pan. Pour the cake batter inside the springform pan, over the crust. Once the kettle has boiled, pour the hot water inside the roasting pan until the water level comes halfway up the tin foil; it may only be 1/2 an inch or so.
      • Bake in the preheated oven for 45-55 minutes. The edges will be puffy and the center will look jiggly. Shut the oven off and using a wooden spoon, leave the oven door open just a crack and allow the cheesecake to cool inside for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and set on the counter for a couple of hours until the cheesecake comes to room temperature. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

      Garnish

      • Make the whipped cream by whipping heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Add sifted icing sugar and vanilla and whip until hard peaks form.
      • Remove springform edges and place the cheesecake on a pretty plate or cutting board. Spread whipped cream all over the sides of the cheesecake and the edge of the top. Cover whipped cream with the leftover gingerbread crumbs and add the gingerbread cookies.
      • Cut into 16, or if being extra generous, 12 slices. 

      Notes

      Expert Tips

      • Does baking one thing at a time seem like enough work? Try making the gingerbread cookies and sheet a couple of days before you make the cheesecake so it doesn't feel too overwhelming!
      • Is there a brand of gingerbread cookies you love and want to skip the first step? Go ahead and use those instead of baking your own.
      • Make sure there are no seams in the tin foil! You want the piece of tin foil to completely cover the bottom and come up the sides of the pan as far as it can go. Seal it to the pan by pressing the tin foil as close as it can get. This will help keep the water from entering the crust and making it soggy when it's placed inside the water bath.
      • Scrape the bowl well in between each addition, scraping all the way down to the bottom of the bowl, and avoid overmixing.
      • Once the cheesecake in fully baked, the edges will be puffy and the center will look jiggly, making it appear as it is not ready... it's ready!
      • Check out my Cheesecaking Tips post for all sorts of helpful tricks for baking the perfect cheesecake.
      Keyword gingerbread cheesecake, gingerbread crust cheesecake
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