Official "Frank DeCaro Show" Must-Make Thanksgiving Recipe #5

Frank’s Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

¼ cup soft butter

Filling:

1¼ lbs cream cheese

10 oz. Sour Cream

1 lb. dark brown sugar

2 Tablespoons flour

2 tsps. vanilla

6 eggs

1 tsp. nutmeg

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

3 Tablespoons  milk

1 cup canned pumpkin

Butter a 10-inch spring form pan. Double wrap bottom and sides of pan with aluminum foil to keep water out. Mix crumbs and butter well. Press into bottom of pan.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream, brown sugar, flour and vanilla together. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add nutmeg, salt and cinnamon. Mix well. Add milk and mix well. Add pumpkin and mix well. Pour into spring form pan. Place spring from pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill roasting pan with an inch or two of warm water, so the water comes up to the middle of the wrapped spring form pan. Bake cheesecake for 1¼ hours at 350 degrees. Let cool.

Note: I like to make this cheesecake late the night before I serve it. After about an hour of cooking time, I turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door slightly ajar overnight. This prevents cracking. Early the next morning, I take the cake out of its water bath, remove the foil, and put the cake, covered in fresh foil, in the refrigerator.