Brown Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake

It's the most wonderful time of the year...for eating cheesecakes and everything decedent :)  I found this recipe online at The Hungry Mouse and just had to try it especially after seeing it had a shortbread crust!  I was a little freaked out by the 3-8oz bricks of cream cheese but after getting over my initial shock ( I usually make cheese cake with 1 and a 1/2 bricks) and diving into the recipe I was happy to find it wasn't too rich for my taste.  Although it did take a while to bake...upwards of two hours, in the end it was a thing of beauty to behold =) 

Brown Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake with Chocolate Shortbread Crust

Crust

1 1/2 cups flour
5 Tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder (not sweetened hot chocolate mix)
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
10 Tbls. butter, diced and softened
1/2 cup + 2 Tbls. confectioner’s sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Pop the pan into your pre-heated, 350-degree oven. Bake it for about 20 minutes, until it’s completely opaque in color and the edges are starting to brown.

When your crust has cooled to room temperature, make the filling.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. (If you left your oven on, don’t forgot to drop the heat. The cheesecake itself bakes at 25 degrees cooler than the crust.)

Filling
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbls. cognac
1 15-oz. can 100% pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
24 oz. cream cheese (that’s 3 8-oz. bricks), at room temperature
1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
4 eggs

Pop the pan into your pre-heated 325-degree oven. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, until it *looks* set (i.e. firm and opaque) but the center jiggles a little when you move the pan.

Turn the heat off, crack the oven door about 4 or 5 inches. Leave the cheesecake in there (with the door cracked open) for an additional 30 minutes.

Makes 1 9-inch cheesecake