Happy Autumn!

Autumn.  It's my favorite time of year. Unlike most, I can't wait to give up the scortching weather and the clothing to go with it.  I love bundling up.  I love bundling up with a nice hot bowl of soup.  And while this recipe might not be for a bowl of soup, there will definitely be many of those to come during this autumn season. 

So today I present you with individual sweet potato pie cheesecakes with a gingersnap crust.  Sweet potato, eh?  Yes.  Sweet potato.  The reason I chose sweet potato is because I still had quite a bit in the refrigerator after making some sweet potato granola bars (more like crumble - since I didn't wait for the bars to cool and they broke into a million pieces).  I adapted the recipe from Lauren's individual ginger pumpkin cheesecakes.  She honestly has the best site ever and I'm pretty sure in the past year, I've made about 95% of her recipes. 

I really enjoy the whole individual part of this recipe.  I originally made the cheesecakes for a friend's birthday and set some aside to keep at the house for when cravings strike.  The cheesecake is creamy with such a wonderful flavor, I couldn't resist.


Individual Sweet Potato Pie Cheesecakes
makes 18 individual cheesecakes

crust:*
1 cup ground gingersnap cookies
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp melted butter
cheesecake:
16 oz neufchatel cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 c sweet potato puree
1/2 c lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c plain Greek yogurt
pinch of salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp ginger
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line muffin tins with paper liners.  Mix the ground gingersnap cookies, ground ginger and butter in a mixing bowl.  Press gingersnap mixture into the bottom of each muffin tin.  Bake in the oven for 5 minutes.

Lower your oven temperature to 275F.  In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sweet potato puree until creamy.  Add in the brown sugar, vanilla extract, Greek yogurt, salt, pumpkin pie spice and ground ginger.  Beat until combined.  Beat the eggs in one at a time. 

Spoon the batter evenly into 18 lined cups.  Tap the pan lightly on the counter to even out the tops of the cheesecakes. 

Bake for 22 minutes, or until the cheesecakes have set.  Let cool completely on a wire rack and then place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or until serving time.


*NOTE:  Lauren used gingersnap cookies by themselves for the crust.  I didn't have gingersnap cookies on hand that were large enough to fit in the bottom of the tin, so I crushed them up and made my own crust.

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