Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingerbread Oreo Crust

So a few weeks ago I made a pumpkin cheesecake with gingerbread oreo crust that just didn't turn out right. The crust was as hard as a rock and I'm not sure why. So for Thanksgiving I decided to give it another shot but change it a little bit so it would hopefully be better.

The first time I used butter with the crushed up oreos in the crust. This time no butter, I think the creme filling in the cookies is enough to help the crumbs stick together. And it turned out really good. So good that I am having to force myself not to eat it because I'm already on week 3 of the couch to 5k program and I don't want to undue all the hard work I am putting in. Plus with all of the pumpkin snickerdoodles and chocolate cake I have eaten, Lord knows I do not need to add cheesecake to the mix.

I followed a pumpkin cheesecake recipe that is supposed to be like the Cheesecake Factory, which can be found here.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingerbread Oreo Crust

For the crust:

2 rows of gingerbread oreos crushed up, including the creme in the middle

For the cheesecake:

3 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree

3 eggs, room temperature

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp all spice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Crush up whole gingerbread oreos. Press cookie crumbs into the bottom and halfway up the sides of a greased 9 inch springform pan and bake for 5 minutes. While baking, mix all of the ingredients for the cheesecake with mixer until thoroughly combined. Make sure the eggs and the cream cheese are both room temperature otherwise it will be harder to mix. Pour the cheesecake mixture over the top of the cookie crust and bake for 1 hour. When done baking, let cheesecake cool completely and refrigerate for 4-6 hours.