Pumpkin-Swirl Cheesecake

Late January and I have been doing the winter kitchen project thing I do every year: working my way through a cuisine I have not cooked from before. This year it is Ethiopian food, which I found at a restaurant in Montgomery last fall with DeAnna and which has been in my head ever since. The berbere spice blend is the thing I started with, a complex mix of chili and fenugreek and cardamom and ginger and coriander and dried basil, toasted and ground. It smells like nothing I have cooked before and like something I want to cook for the rest of my life.

I made a chicken tibs this week: chicken thighs cut into pieces, sauteed with the berbere and onions and tomatoes and a little clarified butter. Served over injera, the spongy fermented flatbread that I ordered from a specialty store online because I could not find it in Prattville. The injera arrived flat and dense and fermented and correct and Tyler ate it with complete willingness, which is one of the things I love about him: he eats everything and means it.

I sent Crystal a text this week that said: I have been making Ethiopian food this week. She said: I do not know what Ethiopian food is. I said: I can tell you about it. She said: tell me. I spent four texts describing the berbere and the injera and the tibs. She said: it sounds like it has layers. I said: it does. She said: like you. That sentence has been in my head all week.

Crystal’s text — “like you” — stayed with me for days, and I kept thinking about layers: the berbere with its seven spices folded into one, the injera fermented down into something greater than its parts, the whole week of reaching toward something unfamiliar and finding it felt like home. By Saturday I wanted to make something that carried that same idea in a different register, something sweet and stacked and worth the patience. This pumpkin-swirl cheesecake is the answer I landed on — the vanilla cream and the spiced pumpkin wound together, neither one swallowing the other, both better for the company.

Prep Time: 30 min | Cook Time: 1 hr | Total Time: 6 hr (includes chilling) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 12 full crackers)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Cream Cheese Filling
3 packages (8 oz each) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pumpkin Swirl
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

Instructions

Prepare the crust. Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl and stir until the mixture resembles wet sand. Press firmly into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool completely.
Make the cream cheese base. Beat softened cream cheese on medium speed until completely smooth, about 3 minutes — no lumps. Add sugar and beat another 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing on low after each addition just until incorporated. Stir in vanilla, sour cream, and flour until combined. Do not overmix.
Build the pumpkin swirl. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the cream cheese batter to a separate bowl. Whisk in pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and brown sugar until smooth and fully combined.
Layer and swirl. Pour the plain cream cheese filling into the prepared crust and spread evenly. Drop large spoonfuls of the pumpkin mixture across the surface. Use a thin knife or skewer to drag through both batters in wide figure-eight motions, creating a swirled pattern. Do not over-swirl or the layers will muddy.
Bake in a water bath. Wrap the outside of the springform pan tightly in two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place the pan inside a larger roasting pan and pour 1 inch of hot water into the roasting pan. Bake at 325°F for 55 to 65 minutes, until the edges are set but the center still has a slight jiggle (about a 2-inch circle in the middle).
Cool gradually. Turn off the oven, crack the door open 1 inch, and let the cheesecake sit inside for 1 hour. This slow cool prevents cracking. Remove from the water bath, run a thin knife around the edge of the pan, and let the cheesecake cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 more hour.
Chill and serve. Cover loosely and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Remove the springform ring, slice with a warm knife (run under hot water and wiped dry between cuts), and serve cold.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pumpkin-Swirl Cheesecake — Layers, Like You