Holiday Spice Cheesecake

Halloween Tuesday and the full-size candy bars by the door as tradition requires. The weather was cold this year — thirty-three degrees at seven when the first children appeared — and I appreciated the efficiency with which they collected their candy and moved on, the parents on the road below visible in the cold as small flashlight beams moving between houses. Owen came up the hill in a costume that I will not disclose to protect his dignity, but it was elaborate and clearly his own design and required some explanation, which he provided at length while his brother collected the candy. Owen is past peak Halloween but not quite past it enough to stop doing it, which seems like exactly the right place for an eleven-year-old.

The root cellar inventory is complete and the winter provision list looks good. I have been working through the Helen notebook methodically and the series is now at volume three — the mid-eighties notebooks that are more confident in their handwriting and more annotated, the recipes showing the accumulation of skill and practice and the particular kind of knowledge you develop only by cooking the same dishes repeatedly until they are yours completely. A 1985 cassoulet entry this week had three generations of notes in the margin: the original recipe, a note from five years later about what she had changed, and a note from 1998 — the year before she died — that said simply: "right now." The 1998 version was the finished article. I posted it with those three layers visible and said almost nothing else.

The hard cider from the October pressing was ready this week — still active and a little sweet but drinkable, the apple flavor clean and the carbonation gentle. I brought a quart to Ted Saturday afternoon and we sat at his kitchen table with Patricia making soup in the background and drank it and talked about the winter ahead. Ted is seventy-eight this year and moves more carefully than he did a few years ago, which I notice and do not mention. He is well. He is at the table. He is talking about the woodlot management plans for winter with the same particular attention he has always brought to his land. The land is the thing that keeps a person oriented, I think. As long as you have land to tend, you have a reason to understand the seasons.

The cider was good on its own, but sitting at Ted’s table with the cold still in my coat I kept thinking about what you’d put beside it — something spiced and unhurried, something that understood the season. The Holiday Spice Cheesecake has been in the rotation since Helen’s notebooks first pointed me toward warm spice combinations in November desserts, and it is exactly the kind of thing Patricia might have pulled from the oven that afternoon: substantial, aromatic, and wholly suited to a kitchen where soup is already on the stove.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 10 min | Total Time: 5 hrs 35 min (includes chilling) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup granulated sugar (for crust)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (for crust)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar (for filling)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Prepare the pan. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan tightly with two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Lightly grease the inside of the pan.
Make the crust. Stir together the graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl. Add the melted butter and mix until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool slightly.
Make the filling. Beat the softened cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until completely smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the 1 cup sugar and beat until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until incorporated — do not overmix.
Add the spices. Add the sour cream, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Mix on low speed until the filling is smooth and uniform in color.
Bake in a water bath. Pour the filling over the cooled crust. Place the foil-wrapped springform pan into a large roasting pan and pour hot water into the roasting pan until it comes 1 inch up the sides of the springform pan. Bake at 325°F for 60–70 minutes, until the edges are set and the center still has a slight jiggle.
Cool gradually. Turn the oven off and crack the door open. Let the cheesecake rest in the oven for 1 hour. Remove from the water bath, discard the foil, and run a thin knife around the edge to loosen. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack, about 1 hour.
Chill. Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Release the springform ring before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and a light dusting of cinnamon if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Holiday Spice Cheesecake — Something Worth Setting on the Table