Pumpkin swirl cheesecake with speculoos crust

Prep time: 30 minutes Cook time: 1 hour

Chill time: Several hours Makes: 8 servings

Notes: Crush the cookies into fine crumbs in a food processor or in a plastic zippered bag with a rolling pin. You can substitute ginger snap cookies or graham crackers for the speculoos cookies.

For the crust:

1 ½ cups (6 ounces) finely crushed speculoos cookies 5 tablespoons melted butter

For the filling:

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

⅔ cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

½ of a 15-ounce can (about ¾ cup) pure pumpkin ½ cup sour cream

1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

⅓ cup pumpkin butter (see recipe on Page 4)

For the crust:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Spray bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray.

2. Mix 1 ½ cups cookie crumbs and 5 tablespoons melted butter in a small bowl. Press mixture into an even layer over the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake until set, 8-10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

For the filling:

1. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Put 2 packages of softened cream cheese into a large mixer bowl fitted with a paddle blade. Beat on high until smooth and light. Beat in ⅔ cups sugar, scraping bowl frequently, until mixed, then beat in 2 eggs and 2 additional egg yolks until smooth. Beat in ¾ cups pumpkin, ½ cup sour cream and 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice until smooth. Scrape mixture into pan with crust.

2. Use a small spoon to dollop pumpkin butter over the batter in a polka-dot pattern. Use a small spatula or blunt knife to swirl pumpkin butter into batter. (Don’t swirl into baked crust below.) Bake in the center of the oven until the center of the cheesecake is set but still a bit wiggly, about 50 minutes. Turn off the oven and open it about 5 inches. Let the cake cool in the open oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

3. Refrigerate at least 6 hours, or overnight. Remove sides of pan. Serve in wedges.