Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes with a Gingersnap Cookie Crust

Tips:

• Use aluminum foil cupcake liners for cheesecake cupcakes so your cheesecake does not soak through the paper liner and make a mess.

I have officially been bitten by the "Fall" bug! Last weekend we went apple picking. The leaves were turning and the apples were bright and delicious. It was so exciting to pick apples fresh from the trees and see an actual real pumpkin patch! So exciting in fact, I wanted to carry over the fall theme to my kitchen with Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes! These were delicious, although I undercooked them a bit.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp pumpkin spice

For the crust:

2 cups finely ground gingersnap cookies
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine gingersnap cookies and sugar in bowl; add melted butter and mix until combined. Press crust mixture onto bottom of each cupcake liner, about 1 tbsp. Set aside.

2. In a stand mixer with a flat beater, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time.

3. Add pumpkin and pumpkin spice to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Fill the cupcake liners almost full. Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.


Make sure you don't forget anything by gathering up all of your ingredients beforehand!














I used the Magic Bullet to finally ground the gingersnaps as I do not have a blender. A blender is preferable but the Magic Bullet will work in a pinch. To get 2 cups of crumbs, I filled the Magic Bullet roughly 2 1/2 times with whole cookies.


I should have mixed the brown sugar and gingersnaps together before adding the melted butter but instead I melted the butter, then added the brown sugar to the hot butter while I continued to grind the gingersnaps. I ended up with caramelized sugar. It may sound great but the crust was a bit too chewy!









































































Use aluminum foil liners when baking cheesecake cupcakes. The moisture will seep through paper liners as seen in the corner cupcake holder. I baked all the cupcakes in foil liners except the corner one and I was left with a bit of a mess when I took the cupcake with the wrapper out.