Eggnog Cheesecake

Recipe: Eggnog Cheesecake

Summary: December 17 - A Cookie A Day Until Christmas.  So, it's not a cookie. Sue me. This just happens to be how I spent most of the day. Ergo, it's "December 17 - A Cookie A Day Until Christmas". Besides... it's super yummers.  I helped a friend with a fundraiser by making desserts, and this was one of them.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2 cups gingersnap cookies, finely crushed
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup butter, melted

Filling:

• 4 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon rum flavoring
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup dairy eggnog

Topping:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon rum flavoring
• Sprinkle of nutmeg

Instructions

1. For the crust_ In a medium bowl stir cookie crumbs and ½ cup sugar together. Add melted butter and mix well.
2. Press into 10" springform pan. Wrap outside of springform pan with foil.
3. Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Mix in sugar, beating for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add flavorings and nutmeg. Add eggs, beat on low speed. Stir in eggnog.
5. Pour filling into prepared pan. Place springform pan in a large roasting pan. Place roasting pan in the oven and add enough hot tap water into roasting pan to come up halfway up side of springform pan.
6. Bake at 350° for 60-70 minutes. Remove pan from water and place on cooling rack.
7. After 15 minutes, remove foil and loosen crust from sides and allow to cool another 30 minutes.
8. Remove sides of pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
9. Whip cream until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar, flavoring and nutmeg.
10. Continue to beat until firm peaks form. Garnish cheesecake with whipping cream and gingerbread cookie.

Variations

Press 1 teaspoon of crust mixture into paper lined muffin tin. Fill each muffin tin 2/3 full.  Bake in 325° oven for 30-35 minutes.

[caption id="attachment_769" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="I cheated and used store-bought cookies for garnish... What? I ran out of time!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_770" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Perfect size cookies for garnishing the individual cheesecakes!"][/caption]

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