Gingerbread Cheesecake
ShareA creamy gingerbread cheesecake, perfect for the holiday season. Serve with whipped cream and mini gingerbread cookies for an extra treat.
‘Tis the season for gingerbread flavored everything. I love gingerbread, the taste and even the smell. And there’s amazing gingerbread soap too. It smells good enough to eat. But I don’t have a recipe for soap. Sorry. That you have to go and buy. I couldn’t resist it when I saw that flavor… scent… whatever online. I had to have it. Now I’m fearful that it’s going to make me crave gingerbread every time I wash my hands. So much for all the baby weight I’ve lost. Gonna pack it all back on thanks to Bath and Body Works. Enough about the soap though.
I made this cheesecake over Thanksgiving weekend and have been dying to share it with you since! If you love gingerbread then you have to make this cheesecake. It’s inspired by a Martha Stewart recipe, adjusted and tweaked to my liking. It’s creamy and has one of the best flavors of the season. Okay I’m totally biased but that’s fine. Really though, it’s perfect. Which means all you need to do is whip one up for you and who ever you’re willing to share it with. Or keep it to yourself. I promise I won’t judge or tell. It’ll be our little secret.
I think one of my favorite parts about making this is that I got to make mini gingerbread men to go along with it. That means there’s a bonus with this recipe – cheesecake and cookies at the same time! I know it’s a lot of sweets but when it comes to December, Christmas, gingerbread, cheesecake, cookies…Mondays… yeah you get the idea. It’s okay! Eat up! :)
Gingerbread Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust ingredients:
Filling ingredients:
- 24 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 C and 2tbsp light brown sugar
- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 3 Tbsp molasses
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cloves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F degrees.
- If possible, prepare cookie dough ahead. Divide dough in half. Roll out onto a baking sheet prepared with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for 9-10 minutes.
- Remove tray from oven. Carefully cut dough up into large pieces. Continue cooking for 2-3 more minutes. Remove baking sheet, allow cooked dough to sit for several minutes.
- When dough has cooled down enough to handle, transfer broken squares to a food processor (or a large bag, using a rolling pin or mallet to crush). Blend until only fine crumbs remain. Measure out 2 cups worth of crumbs, set aside. Discard or store extra crumbs for future use.
- In the food processor or a large bowl, blend together cookie crumbs, melted butter and sugar.
- Prepare springform pan by wrapping the outside with two large sheets of tin foil, around the bottom and up the sides. Pour crust mixture into springform pan. Shake pan to dispurse cookie crumb mixture. Using a flat bottom cup or other item press down on crumb mixture to create a smooth and even crust on bottom and part way up the side of your pan. Bake at 350°F degrees for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325°F degrees.
- In a large bowl or stand mxiture, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, cream mixture. Scrape down sides of bowl prior to each new addition and as needed. Add vanilla and eggs. Finish with the addition of spices and molasses.
- Place springform pan into a larger pan such as a roasting pan. Pour cheesecake filling carefully into prepared crust. Pour hot water into larger pan until water is half way up the sides of your springform pan. Very carefully place pans in oven. Bake for 45 minutes at 325°F degrees. At the 45 minute mark, turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake for one hour with the door shut. No peaking!
- Remove cheesecake from oven and water bath. If you find it easier to remove only the cheesecake at first, remember to remove the water bath before the next time you cook or you'll have a steamy situation!
- Let cheesecake sit for 1-2 hours at room temperature on a wire rack. Transfer to the fridge to sit for at least 8 hours or overnight before slicing. Store chilled.
- Serve with optional whipped cream and gingerbread cookies.
Notes
I am a huge gingerbread fan as well! I especially love that you made gingerbread cookies to then turn to crumbs for the crust. That makes this recipe even better because it is entirely homemade. Yum!
This looks AND sounds amazing!!! May be on the table at Christmas :-)
I’m all about everything gingerbread right now – love this! Those little gingerbread men on the side are just the cutest.
Love this cheesecake flavor. Perfect for the holidays!
Perfection! Everything about this post is just perfection!!
Interesting that you posted this now, as I made these little cheesecake bites that have a gingerbread crust, but as I was doing it, I thought hmmm…wonder what it would taste like if the cheesecake itself was gingerbread? Nice work!
Beautiful cheesecake Rachel! I love that you made gingerbread cookies for the crust. My husband would love this!
I’ve never seen a gingerbread cheesecake! Definitely making this for Christmas!
Your gingerbread cheesecake looks beautiful and delicious! I made one once, but you have inspired me to make another!
Your cheesecake seriously looks perfect. I love gingerbread everything. I have to add this to my list of cheesecakes to make in my life…I LOVE cheesecake.
This looks divine! I love anything gingerbread this time of year, too – but I’ve yet to try gingerbread cheesecake!
This cake looks so delicious!
I’d definitely like to try it
Love the cheesecake flavor & the cute cookies alongside it :)
That is a gorgeous cheesecake and I bet it smells amazing!
This cheesecake is a stunner, Rachel. I can only imagine how good your kitchen smelled while you were baking the cookies. Lovely presentation!
What an amazing cheesecake! I have not had that many gingerbread things in my life, aside from the Gingerbread Man cookie. I am going to have to change that this year, there is just too much out there that looks so good!
i am all about gingerbread everything too! my schedule is so busy the next few weeks but i really hope i have time to try this–it sounds right up my alley!
I am loving this cheesecake! I’d like cookies AND a slice of this now:-)
Wow! I have made several great cheesecake recipes and this is by far my favorite. Brought to our family Christmas dinner and what a hit! Thanks for the recipe.
You’re most welcome. So glad it was a hit. :) Thanks for coming back to share!
I made this twice already in less than a week. One for Christmas day, and one for this evening, a get together with work friends! Love it! Dream of it! and I too love everything gingerbread Happy Holidays!
So glad you’ve enjoyed it Karen! Thanks for coming back to share the great news :) By the way… if you happen to have or take a picture of yours, feel free to share it on my facebook page and I can add it to the ‘my recipes, your kitchen’ album! :)
I made this with high hopes but despite the fact I followed the directions to the letter it never set up. Any ideas on what could have been wrong?
I’m sorry to hear you had trouble with it. Unfortunately I’m unable to offer any advice without having been there to see your process – if anything was off, etc.
I have made a pumpkin cheesecake before but it did not call for a water bath in the oven. I was just wondering if that part was exclusive to this recipe only.
The water bath is not necessary but it helps to prevent cracks in the baking process.
The cake was really sweet and had thick-creamy taste, but overall it is good. I do not like the baking in the water not a fan, it came out runny in the middle. I think that there is too much brown sugar in this as well which is why it came out too sweet (for me). Instead of gingerbread I used ginger snaps and I think that is really good if you don’t have time to make the gingerbread in advance ( I didn’t). I think I would cook this again, but in my traditional way on a cookie sheet without water!
Well merry Christmas to you! What a lovely comment to find on Christmas day. In the future, when you’re baking, not just a cheesecake but anything, you should always watch and judge it’s level of doneness and determine if it needs more or less time. Timing is a guide because one oven may not cook like another. Temperatures can be wildly inaccurate. The water bath method is a well known method for cooking cheesecakes to avoid cracks in the top. When done properly, it works beautifully.
used wafer crumbs for crust (no time to make cookies), used all the same for the filling except the added salt, baked in a water bath until internal temp was 160,was exceptional!! perfect flavour and texture. thank you for recipe
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! :)
The cake wouldn’t set and I followed all directions to a t. I have made many other cheesecake and this is the only one I am having trouble with. Any ideas why it didn’t set?
Oven temperatures can vary greatly from one to the next, which may have been the cause here. You should continue cooking until only the center remains jiggly.
In the directions for the filling, it says “In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, cream mixture. Scrape down sides of bowl prior to each new addition and as needed.”
What is the cream mixture? I don’t see it mentioned anywhere in the ingredients.
Thanks!
It means you are to cream (or beat) together the sugar and cream cheese.
I really want to make this for xmas this year, but I dont understand some of the weights. What does C mean? If anyone could tell me so i can convert it myself it would be really helpful. As a Brit, I dont quite understand the weights.
C stands for cups. Good luck and I hope you enjoy it!
Followed the recipe and directions exactly and the water bath leaked into my pan. My crust is soggy even after I triple lined with heavy duty foil. The actually cheesecake ended up being only an inch tall too. Very disappointed in the way this turned out. I even made a second one and lined the pan with 4 pieces of foil and had the same results. If there is one thing this recipe taught me it is DO NOT USE A WATER BATH!!
There are several issues here… The first being that it sounds as though you lined the inside of the pan with foil. When using the water bath method, you wrap the outside of the pan to prevent water from getting into the pan, around the bottom and completely up the sides of the pan. I’ve never once had water leak into my pans when using this method. Also, your pan may not have been properly sealed. However, that is another issue of it’s own. As for the depth of your cheesecake, it should definitely be more than an inch tall. Either your filling leaked out, which wasn’t mentioned in your comment, or you didn’t add all of the ingredients. I’m sorry that you had problems but I’ve successfully made this cheesecake multiple times, as have others. The recipe is correct as written.
I followed the recipe exactly and lined the outside of the pan. My filling didn’t leak either. The frustration is real after seeing how lovely yours looked and then looking at my 2 disaster cheesecakes! Haha! Oh well, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be for me to have a perfect looking cheesecake! I’ll will have to give the recipe another go at some point to perfect the look! The taste is still good though, so I’ll have to doctor it up to make it pretty! Thanks for the response!
In the future, you can try skipping the water bath and simply increase the oven temperature, plus cooking a tad longer. The water bath method helps reduce the risk of cracks, which is why I prefer this method. I wish I had a better idea of what went wrong for you, but without having been there, I can only make guesses. Good luck with your future attempt!
I just made this this morning and have got a beautiful, uncracked cheesecake sitting in my fridge waiting to be served tonight.
Your recipe instructions were wonderfully clear and, while this recipe is a labour of love, it already looks and smells well worth it!
Came back to say that it tasted amazing!! Definitely a keeper :)
So glad to hear everything turned out well and that you enjoyed it so much! Thanks so much for sharing, Tess! :)
I do not know that I will have time to make your gingerbread cookies for the crust. Would it still work with store-bought gingerbread cookies? Thank you in advance!
It should be just fine! Enjoy! :)
possibly stupid question, as I’m sure you would have tried it and said if it was possible, but, if making a cheesecake that requires no baking, could one just omit the baking soda from the ginger bread cookie mix and instead spread the dough into a pie pan to use as a pre-baked pie crust?
Altering the original cookie recipe wouldn’t affect the crust, especially since you’re using the baked crumbs in the crust. Make and bake the cookies as directed prior to adding to your pie dish. For best results, baking the crust is recommended.