Brown Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pistachio Macaroon Crust.
Annnnd a pistachio macaroon crumble on top. Save me.
Isn’t that the fluffiest cake o’ love you’ve ever seen? I just want to burrow a hole through the center and chew my way out. The flavor! The texture! What is my exclamation point allowance here? Because I am most certainly going to run over.
Are you ready to talk about cheesecake perfection?
Just
look
at
this.
!!!!!!
And it gets better with that. ^^^^^^^ A crumbly pistachio macaroon crumble, held together by brown sugar and butter and sprinkled on top of the cake for a fab crunch.
Owwwweeee just stop it.
I know I know! I’ve been a bit overzealous with the pumpkin this year. I mean, I haven’t been PSL-ing everything, but I was really off pumpkin the last two years and so this year, I’ve been all over it. As we pass through the middle of November, I’m not even close to being sick of it. I’ve made more pumpkin muffins than I can count and have made this pumpkin bread a bunch of times too. It is the BEST.
Don’t make me stop.
Oh oh oh! AND.
Someone mentioned a pumpkin coconut pie on my Thanksgiving post earlier this week and I can’t get that idea out of my head either. Seriously? Sounds so freaking delicious. So I’ll probably do that while I battle this pumpkin flavored addiction.
Just be glad I’m not making, like, pumpkin spice scrambled eggs or something.
By the way, I have totally already moved waaaay on – to the eggnog latte. So there’s that. You determine what’s more basic.
Given my intense and wacky fascination with pistachios, I couldn’t NOT make a pistachio macaroon crust. Chewy, pistachio-y, coconutty. I figured it would take my love for graham cracker crusts to another level. Elevate it, if you will.
It also really helps that cheesecake is my number one dessert. Absolute fave of all the faves.
How much more do I need to sell you: fluffy pumpkin cheesecake on top of chewy pistachio crust, topped with whipped cream (flavor it if you want!) and a crunchy crumble. Eeeeeep, I am SO deep in cheesecake lust. What else could a texture lover want? NOTHING.
Brown Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pistachio Macaroon Crust
Ingredients
pistachio macaroon crust
- 1 1/2 cups shelled pistachios, roasted are fine, I’d try to avoid salted
- 3/4 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 8 to 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
pumpkin cheesecake
- 4 (8-ounce) blocks cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 cups loosely packed brown sugar
- 1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin puree
- 5 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- whipped cream for serving
pistachio coconut crumble
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 5 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3/4 cup pistachios, coarsely chopped
- 2/3 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Add the pistachios to a food processor and blend until small crumbs (as powdery as you can get it before becoming butter) remain. Place the pistachios in a bowl and stir in the coconut, brown sugar and melted butter. Combine until the entire mixture is moistened (if it’s super dry, add another 1 to 2 tablespoons of melted butter, then press it into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove it from the oven and let cool.
- Beat the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of your electric mixture until fully combined. Beat in the pumpkin puree until combined. Add in the eggs, vanilla extract, spices and salt, beating until just combined and making sure to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl when needed. Pour the batter into the crust.
- [I used a water bath to bake this cheesecake (I rarely do because it’s so high maintenance!) and it worked wonderfully – not one single crack in the cake! I placed the springform pan on a large baking sheet with a lip and poured in enough water to just come up to 1/4 of the pan.]
- Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 45 minutes, then turn off the oven. Open the door to let some heat out of the oven, then close it and allow the cheesecake to sit inside for another hour. After one hour, remove the cake and let it cool completely. Refrigerate overnight (or at least 6 to 8 hours) before serving.
pistachio coconut crumble
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the butter. Once melted, stir in the sugar and cook until bubbly. Stir in the pistachios and coconut and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 more minutes. Pour the mixture onto a sheet of parchment and let it cool. Crumble it apart once cool and place on top of the whipped cream.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Whipped cream cannonball time.
32 Comments on “Brown Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pistachio Macaroon Crust.”
OMG wow!! you seriously come up with the best recipes… and this looks incredible! so smart to have a pistachio crust can’t wait to make it :)
this is the most beautiful cheesecake i have ever seen.
Woah!!! (un am I Joey Lawrence?!) I was thinking about making a gluten free pie or something for Thanksgiving as my husband has a gluten intolerance and I just realized this is my solution!!!!!!
Heavenly!!
Gorgeous cake – that pistachio crumble!!!!
And here I was thinking I already mastered my favorite pumpkin cheesecake. Dang it I must have this in my face!
I mean, that macaroon crust? What dreams are made of!
Wow your cheesecake skillz are out of control! I’ve yet to make a cheesecake without any cracks. Yours looks so smooth and fluffy!
Gorgeous cheesecake! I can’t remember the last time I made cheesecake :( Also, I don’t think anyone could beat exclamation point usage as much as my mom – her text/emails are loaded with them ;)
Me yesterday when making my Christmas list and looking at suggestions online: Psh, I don’t need a Springform pan. Like, what would I ever make in it? Skip.
Me today: “I’ll take two:
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I love the pistachio macaroon crust! It’s over the top!…and I have a philosophy that you don’t really think nuts ruin desserts…you’re just in denial ;) (You probably still hate nuts in brownies and chocolate chip cookies though…but, yeah…I think someday you’ll come around… at least on the cookies…. :)
¡Fantástica receta! Fácil de elaborar, con buenas fotografías y un resultado final delicioso, me encanta. Muchas gracias por compartirla con todos/as.
/ http://www.mascasaonline.com
So many good flavors in this cheesecake! I love this!
Jessica, please share your secret to a crack-less cheesecake. PLEASE — crack kills!!!!!
That does look so incredibly fluffy! The macaroon crust sounds amazing. Perfect accompaniment to the pumpkin cheesecake :)
There is no such thing as too many exclamation points in the blog-o-sphere! The cheesecake is dreamy and creamy and yes, the pistachio crumble takes the whole thing over the top! Lovely!
That looks pretty freaking fantastic. I’m not sick of pumpkin yet either and I have made SO many pumpkin things. I don’t know if I ever get sick of it really, I just don’t pumpkin ALL of the things the rest of the year! Love all the pistachios in this. Amazing.
I have seen a ton of cheesecake recipes in my day but I think this is going to hit the top of the decadent meter. All those things sound heavenly on their own rolled into one dessert (cheesecake none the less) and you are singing my language of an all so yummy dessert idea. I love the fall holidays and being able to find such wonderful uses of pumpkin it really is an ingredient I wish found more mainstream appeal year round.
Thanks for sharing,
Christine
This pumpkin cheesecake looks so dreamy! And what a creative idea for the crust, regular graham is boring sometimes. Love the crunchy topping too! :)
This might be the most perfect cheesecake I’ve ever seen, and that crust is gorgeous! So many awesome flavors going on here. I’m going to be dreaming about this for days!
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Oh you are so crushin’ it here! Can I come to your house for Thanksgiving? I’ll do ALL the dishes. :)
I am making this now and the crust seems really really wet with the 8 tablespoons of butter. Is that how it’s supposed to be?
Hey Jessica! I’m planning on making this fabulous cheesecake for my dad (father’s day!) and I was wondering if it’s really 4 packages of cream cheese. My go-to plain vanilla cheesecake uses only one package and it looks like it makes the same amount of cheesecake batter as this one so I’m just asking! :)
hi! yes! 4 packages for this recipe! :)
Awesome! Thank you for the super quick reply! My stomach is already grumbling for this and it’s only Friday, humph….
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Hi Jessica,
I’ve made this multiple times and it was amazing (rave reviews!), however pumpkin and May don’t really go together. Could you sub raspberry jelly/puree for the pumpkin and be ok or is the consistency going to be ruined? Any other suggestions on flavors to sub in?
Looking forward to making this for family and friends soon!
Best
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