Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake -- The Other Thing I’m Bringing to Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming and I have been thinking about food in the obsessive preparatory way I think about food before the big holidays: what I am bringing to Steve and Patty's, what I am making just for us if we have a quiet moment, what I want Owen and Nora to taste for the first time that will eventually become a memory of Thanksgivings they cannot remember.

Owen is standing without support now. He pushed himself off the coffee table last Sunday and stood in the middle of the living room floor for four seconds with the expression of a man who has just stepped off a boat onto solid ground and is not entirely sure about this. Then he sat down. Then he did it again. Ryan and I were both home and we both saw it and we both did not make a big deal of it out loud because we could feel that Owen did not want a fuss made and Owen was right: some achievements should be acknowledged quietly.

Nora took eleven steps in a row on Saturday. She was fully committed. She arrived at her destination — the kitchen cabinet where the dish towels live — and pulled out the top dish towel and looked at me with an expression of complete satisfaction. The dish towel was her goal. She achieved her goal. This is Nora: she identifies what she wants and goes and gets it, and the getting is secondary to the identifying.

I am bringing cranberry sauce to Thanksgiving. Homemade, not the can, though I love the can and am not above the can and will eat the can directly with a spoon. This year I have time and I have a bag of fresh cranberries from the Jewel display and I am going to make sauce with orange zest and a little port and Babcia Rose will nod at it and that will be sufficient.

The cranberry sauce is handled, but I have been turning over the dessert question for two weeks, and this is where I landed: a pumpkin swirl cheesecake, because cheesecake lives in the same family of patient, careful things as pierogi and babka — the kind of food that asks you to slow down and pay attention, which feels right for a season I am trying to actually inhabit instead of just survive. Babcia Rose grew up with sernik on every holiday table, and while this is not sernik, it is in the same spirit, and I think she will understand that. I wanted something that would sit on that table and look like it meant it.

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

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

Ingredients

• Crust:
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• Cream Cheese Filling:
• 24 oz (3 blocks) full-fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• Pumpkin Swirl:
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions

1. Prepare the pan. Preheat oven to 325°F. Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan tightly with two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil to prevent water from seeping in during the water bath.
2. Make the crust. Stir together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter until the mixture resembles wet sand. Press firmly and evenly into the bottom of the prepared springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool while you prepare the fillings.
3. Make the cream cheese filling. Beat the room-temperature cream cheese on medium speed until completely smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat again until incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, beating on low after each addition just until combined — do not overmix. Stir in the vanilla and sour cream by hand.
4. Make the pumpkin swirl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves until smooth. Stir in 1 cup of the cream cheese filling until fully combined.
5. Layer and swirl. Pour the remaining cream cheese filling over the cooled crust and smooth the top. Drop large spoonfuls of the pumpkin mixture over the surface. Use a thin knife or skewer to swirl the two fillings together with long, lazy figure-eight motions. Do not over-swirl or the layers will muddy.
6. Bake in a water bath. Place the foil-wrapped springform pan in a large roasting pan. Pour hot water into the roasting pan until it reaches 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 has a slight wobble when gently shaken.
7. Cool gradually. Turn off the oven, crack the door open a few inches, and let the cheesecake cool in the oven for 1 hour. This prevents cracking. Remove from the water bath, run a thin knife around the edge to loosen it from the pan, and let it cool completely at room temperature.
8. Chill and serve. Cover loosely and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Remove the springform ring, slice with a hot clean knife, and serve cold or at cool room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 390 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 27g | Carbs: 31g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 290mg