‘Tis the season for pumpkin dessert recipes and here is a pumpkin cheesecake recipe you won’t want to miss! This creamy pumpkin cheesecake is perfect for the fall season and it serves a lot of people, so it’s a great idea for big family holiday gatherings. Made with a toasted pecan and graham cracker crust, and topped with yogurt-whipped cream and caramel sauce, you’ll have them begging for seconds! We love Sally’s Baking Addiction salted caramel sauce, and it turns out perfectly every time. But, you can easily use your favorite store-bought caramel sauce to save a little time.
Whether you like goat cheese cheesecake or just regular cheesecake, we’ve got you covered with this recipe. Simply use a combination of goat cheese and cream cheese, or all cream cheese. It is fun and interesting to note that according to calories-info.com, cream cheese has 33 percent more calories and 63 percent more fat than goat cheese, yet goat cheese has 201 percent more protein and 15 percent more water content than cream cheese! Besides the amazing flavor, we love the nutritional superiority of goat cheese!
Due to the higher water content, we use only about one-quarter of goat cheese to three-quarters of cream cheese for this recipe. You could probably get away with half and half, too, but we’ve never made this cheesecake with only goat cheese. I don’t think it would be quite as creamy if you omitted the cream cheese. But, if you try it and love it, please let us know because we are huge goat cheese fans!
Cheesecake freezes very well, so you can make this pumpkin cheesecake ahead of time and once it’s completely cooled, wrap the entire cheesecake in plastic wrap. We make this cheesecake in a spring form pan, so you can remove the bottom portion of the pan from the ring and freeze the cheesecake on it. Then wrap the whole thing in foil, so the cheesecake is double-wrapped. Freeze for up to several weeks. When ready to serve, remove the cheesecake from the freezer the day before and allow it to defrost in the refrigerator. Then decorate the top with yogurt whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce.
Pumpkin Goat Cheese Cheesecake
Equipment
- 1 10-inch springform pan
- 1 Large baking sheet (12×15 or so in size)
Ingredients
Toasted Pecan-Graham Cracker Crust (can prepare this several hours ahead of time, but don’t have to!)
- 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs You can also substitute Lotus Biscoff Cookie crumbs
- 2 cups chopped toasted pecans
- 4 oz. butter, melted 1 stick, or 8 tablespoons
- 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
Goat Cheese Cheesecake Filling
- 8 oz. goat cheese, softened to room temperature *If you don’t use goat cheese, just replace this with another 8 oz. of cream cheese.
- 24 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature can substitute 1/2 cup eggbeaters
- 1 can (15 oz.) pure pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Yogurt-Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp. powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 5 tbsp. butter
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp. salt we use Himalayan pink salt for this recipe
Instructions
Toasted Pecan-Graham Cracker Crust
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Generously butter or grease a 10-inch springform pan, on the bottom and on the sides. Note – we butter and PAM the pan to make it easier to remove the cheesecake slices.
- In a mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, chopped toasted pecans, sugar, and melted butter and mix well.
- Pat the graham cracker mixture into the bottom and sides of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven. Cool to room temp.
Goat Cheese Cheesecake Filling
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, goat cheese and brown sugar with an electric mixer or beater until creamy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating on the slow speed on the mixer until incorporated. Don’t overbeat, but beat just until creamy and lumps have disappeared. Stir in pumpkin puree, yogurt, vanilla and spices.
- Pour filling into prepared pie shell and spread out evenly. Place the springform pan on a large baking sheet to prevent spills from going onto your oven!
- Bake for approximately 50 minutes, or until the center is barely jiggly. Note – this time may vary slightly from oven to oven.
- Remove cheesecake from the oven and cool to room temperature. Run a knife around the edges of the pan so that you can easily remove the ring from the bottom of the pan. Once cooled, refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Serve cold with a spoonful of the yogurt-whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce.
Yogurt-Whipped Cream
- Beat heavy cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold in yogurt, powdered sugar and vanilla. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Sally’s Salted Caramel Sauce
- Heat granulated sugar in a medium heavy-duty saucepan with a light colored bottom (so you can easily see the color change) over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Sugar will form clumps and eventually melt into a thick brown, amber-colored liquid as you continue to stir. Keep your eye on it so as not to burn it!
- Once sugar is completely melted, immediately stir in the butter until melted and combined. Be careful in this step because the caramel will bubble rapidly when the butter is added. If you notice the butter separating or if the sugar clumps up, don’t worry! Simply remove it from heat and vigorously whisk to combine it again. This could take several minutes, but it will come back together into a smooth mixture. Be careful of hot splatter.
- After the butter has melted and combined with the caramelized sugar, very slowly pour in the heavy cream, stirring constantly. The mixture will rapidly bubble when added. After all the heavy cream has been added, stop stirring and allow to boil for 1 minute – don’t stir it for the one minute. This seems like a long time to go without stirring, but don’t:) It will rise in the pan as it boils. Remove from heat and stir in the salt. Allow to sit for about 10-15 minutes before using. Caramel thickens as it cools. You can store this in the refrigerator for several weeks. If the sauce seems too thick to pour, you can heat it in the microwave and it will thin out!