Salted Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Salted Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecakes

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Last Fall I made a marscapone-gingersnap pumpkin pie, and lately it's been floating around Pinterest a lot after it found it's way onto this list. The thing is, it's just a twist on a classic, and those are my favorite recipes to make.

Today I put a twist on pumpkin cheesecake, baking it over a pumpkin-ginger cookie crust and topping it with salted dark chocolate ganache. You know those mini cheesecakes baked in muffin pans with cherry pie filling on top? These are just as easy as those, but elevated. It's made real simple with this Pillsbury® Perfectly Pumpkin Cookie Mix that I just add ginger to and use as my crust base. And make sure you use a good dark chocolate for the ganache, I used DOVE® Dark Chocolate Pumpkins. These are sold exclusively at Target, so keep that in mind. They had good deals on these products when I was shopping, so make sure you check Cartwheel.

Check out coupons for the DOVE here, and one for Pillsbury mixes here.

Salted Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Makes about 20

Ginger-Pumpkin Cookie Crust:

• Pillsbury Perfectly Pumpkin Cookie Mix
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake:

• 2 (8 oz.) pkg.s cream cheese, slightly softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

• 4.5 oz (about 16 pieces) DOVE Dark Chocolate Pumpkins, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• coarse sea salt

Directions:

Prepare cookie mix according to instructions, adding 1/2 tsp ginger to the mix. Roll into balls that are slightly less than 1 inch and bake according to instructions. Set aside to cool.

Heat oven to 350F. Prep a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Beat together all of the cheesecake ingredients until light and fluffy. Place one cookie into each cupcake liner. Pour cheesecake batter over the cookies, until almost full. Bake for about 15 minutes until set. Let cool completely.

Pour your finely chopped DOVE chocolate into a medium bowl and set aside. Place the heavy cream in a small saucepan over med-high heat. Heat just until boiling, then immediately pour over your chocolate and stir until smooth. Pour a spoonful over top of each cooled cheesecake and refrigerate until ready to serve. Before serving, sprinkle with coarse sea salt.