Pumpkin Cheesecake With Gingerbread Crust

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

To prepare crust, bring honey, sugar and butter to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and peel. Cool to lukewarm.

Sift together flour, baking powder and spices. Add half the flour mixture to honey mixture and stir to combine well. Stir in egg yolk, then remaining flour mixture. With floured hands, knead dough until smooth; pat evenly onto the bottom and half an inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Prick the bottom with a fork and bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool before filling.

For the filling, beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored (about 5 minutes at high speed). In another bowl, whip cream cheese until light and fluffy. Stir in cream, pumpkin, sugar, egg yolk, flour, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the pumpkin mixture. Pour into prepared crust and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour.

Remove from oven, increase oven temperature to 450 F and prepare topping. Combine sour cream, brown sugar and vanilla and spread evenly on top of cheesecake. Sprinkle pecans and return to oven for 5 minutes. Turn off oven and allow cheesecake to cool with the door propped open. Chill.

Recipe Source: Homemaker Magazine (Canada).