Pumpkin Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Sauce

     This has been a month of dinner parties.  Three men in our family have birthdays in November; my husband, son-in-law Dave, and yes... the landmark 1st year of French Bulldog, Bisous.                    
      We celebrated those birthdays last night with  Pumpkin Cheesecake drizzled with Salted Caramel Sauce.  I don't think anyone would be disappointed if I made this dessert again for our Thanksgiving dinner next week.  The great thing about cheesecake... it can be baked a day or two ahead, making it one less item competing for space occupied by the turkey and stuffing in my oven.  My pumpkin pies are always baked the day of.
     And earlier this month I was is Ohio visiting my sister, Susan.  While there, I cooked for a dinner party she hosted prior to the opening of a holiday show at the Taft Museum in Cincinnati. (The show can be seen through January 8.)  This is the third year where the Taft has displayed part of Susan's museum-quality, antique toy collection from the Erzgebirge region of Germany.  Out-of-town guests at the dinner party were new friends who have accompanied Susan on the tours she leads twice a year to Germany -- a must for any serious collector!

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Pumpkin Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Sauce

  adapted recipe from Chocolate with Grace

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
• 3 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ginger
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• Salted Caramel Sauce (recipe here)
• Whipped heavy cream

1.  Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2.  In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar.  Add the melted butter and stir until evenly moistened.  Press the mixture into the bottom of a 8 1/2 to 9-inch springform pan.  Press a square of foil over the bottom of the pan (to protect the oven floor from any leakage) and bake for 8-9 minutes.  Remove from oven.
3.  Reduce oven temperature to 325˚F.  In the large bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth.  Add the pumpkin, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.  Break the eggs into a small bowl and lightly beat with a fork.  Add the eggs to the mixture and mix briefly, just until well combined.  Do not over mix.  Pour on top of the graham cracker crust. 
4.  Bake for 1 hour.  Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake to rest inside the oven for an additional 1 1/2 hours before opening the oven door.  The long cooling time should minimize cracks in the cheesecake.  Remove from the oven and cool completely.  Serve with the Salted Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream. 

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