Ginger Pumpkin Cheesecake

So, I made this for a pie contest at Ganesh's work and won 1st place!! Yeah! Got me some new oven mitts. ;) My Mom also made this recipe last year for my step dad's work contest and also won 1st place. She won $75! This seems to be a lucky dessert!

If you do not have a springform pan or choose not to make your own crust, you will need to buy 2 pre-made crusts, as it will fill both of them, and omit the water bath. I hope you all enjoy...and let me know if this wins you a prize as well! Happy November!

Adapted from cdkitchen.com

Ingredients:

Crumb Crust:
1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
4 tablespoons Butter, melted
2 tablespoons Sugar

Pumpkin Filling:
2 (8 oz) packages Cream Cheese, softened
1 1/4 cup Sugar
1 (15 oz) can solid-pack Pumpkin
3/4 cup Sour Cream
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/4 teaspoon Salt
4 large Eggs

Topping:
1/2 cup Crystallized Ginger, sliced

Directions:

Crust: Preheat oven to 350 F. In a 9 x 3 in. springform pan, combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar. Stir with a fork until moistened. Press mixture onto bottom of pan. Tightly wrap outside of pan with heavy duty foil. Bake 10 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Pumpkin Filling: In a large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in sugar until blended, about 1 minute, scraping bowl with spatula. Reduce speed to low. Beat in pumpkin, sour cream, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just blended.

Pour pumpkin mixture onto crust and sprinkle with a bit more ground ginger. Set springform pan into a large roasting pan. Place roasting pan on oven rack. Carefully pour enough very hot water into roasting pa to come 1 inch up side of springform pan. Bake until center of cake barely jiggles, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Remove cheesecake pan from water bath and transfer to wire rack. Remove foil. Cool completely in pan on rack. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 6 hours or overnight.

Sprinkle the crystallized ginger on top.