Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups

I was pulling out all my Thanksgiving recipes today (I like to be prepared), and I ran across this old recipe. 

When I was a teacher, this is one of the recipes we made every year for our annual Thanksgiving "lunch".  I had special ed kids from K-6, a small group, with a wide range of abilities and backgrounds.  This recipe was easy enough that there was something for everyone to do.  We invited the parents, and we all had a great meal together once every year around a couple of large decorated tables.  The kids were always so proud to serve mom or dad their very own "cheesecake" that they had made themselves.  It's not really cheesecake, but it's tasty anyway, and it can be made ahead of time, which is perfect for this kind of thing.  Of course, these would also be great to serve on a tiered tray for a Thanksgiving Afternoon Tea.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups
2 inch Gingersnap cookies
2 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup granulated brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
Cupcake papers & tins
3/4 cup frozen non-dairy whipped topping

Place one gingersnap in bottom of each cupcake paper and place in cupcake tin.  Beat ricotta until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients except whipped topping, and mix until well blended.  Pour into cups.

Bake 20 minutes at 325° until lightly set; turn off heat and let stand in oven over 1 hour.  Cool on rack and chill overnight.  Serve with 1 tbsp of whipped topping.

Comments

[keewee]

I love gingersnap (gingernuts) biscuits (cookies). My favorite way to eat them is dunk them in my cup of tea. Yes, I know that sounds disgusting, but you can blame my mother for this bad habit. As a young child, I used to sit with my mother at 10am -morning tea time,and drink milky sugar sweetened tea, dunk my gingernut in it, and listen to Dr Paul on the radio. This was my Mum's favorite serial.

[Christine]

Heheh, I don't think of this as a bad habit, Keewee. Dunking is an art!

You've got yer crumble factor, so the texture of the cookie is important. (See previous post here: In Search of the Perfect Tea & Biscuit.) Then you've got yer dribble factor, so a cup you can hold close to your face is important. Then there's the taste, of course, best tea for best cookie flavor. And don't forget cookie to tea ratio, as in ... amount of time for proper dunkage... so many factors to consider!

I'm a bigtime dunker from way back. My fav is chocolate chip cookies, either very crunchy, or very chewy. They dunk wonderfully.

[Jane Smith]

I love cooking and your dessert sounds great but at Thanksgiving I lke to take a break and if anyone else feels that way I came across a great place to get desserts such as cheesecakes www.thedessertcafe.com I want to spend time with the family instead of in the kitchen.

[mary]

pumpkin cheesecake cups--what is the temperature that you bake them?

[Christine]

Gak! I'm a ninnyhammer. I totally skipped a brain cell. Oven temp is 325 degrees (Farenheit). I better go update the post! Thanks for asking Mary