Grandma Mable's Gingerbread Cheesecake
Grandma Mable’s Gingerbread Cheesecake
The quickest way to Santa’s heart is a slice of my gingerbread cheesecake. Your home will always be the first on his list if you set aside a piece of this delicious dish!
*Yields 12-14 slices and a whole lot of yumminess
Ingredients
Crust:
Cheesecake filling:
Cranberry topping:
Instructions
Warning: May cause spontaneous moaning, eye rolling, and possibly a marriage proposal if served to your significant other!
Enjoy,
Mable
The quickest way to Santa’s heart is a slice of my gingerbread cheesecake. Your home will always be the first on his list if you set aside a piece of this delicious dish!
*Yields 12-14 slices and a whole lot of yumminess
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 cups of ground gingerbread cookies (homemade is best, but store-bought gingersnaps are fine in a pinch)
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Cheesecake filling:
- 3 packages of cream cheese (8 ounces), room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
- a heaping helping of Christmas cheer!
Cranberry topping:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 package (12 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
- whipped cream, powdered sugar, or molasses (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and grease the sides.
- Double wrap the outside of your springform pan with aluminum foil for a water bath.
- In a small bowl, add your crushed gingerbread cookies and stir in melted butter while naming Santa’s reindeer (or for 15-20 seconds).
- Press the mixture evenly onto the bottom of your springform pan and then 1/3 of the way up the sides. Make sure no one sees you licking the spoon afterward. That’ll put you on the naughty list!
- Bake until the cookie crust is set (the time it takes to write out 2 Christmas cards or about 10 minutes).
- Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
- In a stand mixer, add the cream cheese and beat until fluffy.
- Add in the brown sugar and beat until fully combined, then add in the vanilla and the eggs one at a time. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl so that everything is evenly blended.
- While humming We Wish You a Merry Christmas, add the molasses, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and zest (optional) on medium speed until fully combined.
- Pour the mixture into the springform pan. Then place the pan into a larger pan and fill the outer pan with an inch of hot water (to prevent your filling from cracking).
- Bake at 325 degrees in a water bath for 60 minutes.
- While the cheesecake bakes, it’s the perfect time to prepare the topping. In a saucepan, stir the sugar and orange juice on medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the cranberries and cook until the skins pop. Let the cranberries cool to room temperature and then chill. (Or this is a great way to get rid of any leftover cranberry sauce that you may have from a holiday dinner. I won’t tattle on you.)
- After baking the cheesecake, place on a wire rack to cool for 1-2 hours at room temperature. Optional: while waiting for the cake to cool, settle onto the couch to watch your favorite holiday movie.
- Transfer the cake to the fridge for at least 8 hours. If you’ve got an event that just won’t wait (aka, Hope for the Holidays), place cake in the freezer for 1-2 hours.
- Decorate your cake with the cranberry topping. For extra mmms from your guests, serve with swirls of whipped cream blended with powdered sugar or molasses.
Warning: May cause spontaneous moaning, eye rolling, and possibly a marriage proposal if served to your significant other!
Enjoy,
Mable