Pumpkin Cheesecake with White Chocolate Mousse

Source: my good friend Mel (ha - in my dreams we're friends, anyway)

Our Blanchard Family Thanksgiving Dessert Spread
The Cheesecake is the one in the middle.

Ingredients:
for the crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 14 rectangle crackers)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
8 Tablespoons butter, melted

for the cheesecake:
3 (8 ounces each) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch of cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree (or about 2 cups if using homemade)

for the white chocolate mousse topping:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch ground nutmeg
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces white chocolate, melted

Directions:
For the crust, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in the melted butter and mix until combined and it looks like wet sand.

Press the crumbs into the bottom and just a bit up the sides of a 10-inch springform pan (I used a 9-incher since that's what I have, but it worked fine; it was just really full and in the end took quite a bit longer to cook the cheesecake - see later for details). Place the springform pan on a foil-lined larger baking pan and bake for about 8 minutes until the crust is just lightly golden and smells fragrant. Remove from the oven and let cool. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F.

For the cheesecake batter, in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a bowl with a handheld electric mixer), whip together the cream cheese and sour cream until just combined. Add the cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and mix until incorporated. Mix in the vanilla and pumpkin until just combined.

Spread the batter evenly over the crust and bake (keeping the pan still on the foil-lined baking sheet; helps prevent any leaking butter/batter from dirtying your oven) for 45-60 minutes (because mine was in a 9-inch pan, it took almost an hour and ten minutes and even then it still seemed too jiggly too me so I just turned off the oven and let it sit inside for a while as the oven cooled) until the edges are set and the center slightly jiggles. Let the cheesecake cool completely.

For the white chocolate topping, in a medium bowl, beat the cream and vanilla with an electric mixer (handheld or stand mixer) until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix until combined and the peaks are slightly stiffer. In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add the white chocolate and mix until smooth and creamy. Fold in the whipped cream, taking care not to deflate the whipped cream, and mix gently with a rubber spatula, lifting and turning the cream, until the mousse is combined and creamy. (Mine never mixed smoothly - when I was done it looked more like whipped cream with a tiny clumps of cream cheese speckled throughout.  So it looked weird, but it tasted great.)

Spread the white chocolate topping on top of the cooled cheesecake. (It was really nice to have the mousse to cover my sunken top on my cheesecake - I tend to mix my cheesecakes too much, so they get too much air and then sink when they come out of the oven.  If you do the same thing, then you don't have to fret because you can just fill in the hole with the mousse!)  Refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours or up to a day.  (I made mine the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  When it cooled, I covered it in a layer of plastic wrap and then a layer of aluminum foil and then popped it in the freezer.  It traveled to Utah a few days later in the cooler and then lived in the fridge until it was time to eat dessert on Sunday afternoon.) Garnish with a light dusting of freshly grated nutmeg, if desired.

Notes:
If you want a showstopping dessert, especially in the fall when it's pumpkin season, look no further than this awesome cheesecake.  Luckily, it looks way impressive and tastes way impressive, but it does not require major feats of culinary excellence to create it.  Sign me up!  Sure, it takes a little time and a lot of cream cheese, but really it's worth every minute!  One of the greatest things about cheesecake is that it can/should be made a day or two (or more if you want to freeze it) ahead of time, leaving you free to make the rest of your meal on the big day.  Bonus.