This gingerbread cheesecake doesn't whisper holiday cheer-it kicks down the kitchen door like John McClane, smelling like ginger, cinnamon, and heroic decisions. Creamy, dramatic, and unapologetically festive, it's the dessert that makes even the pie feel insecure. Bring it to the table and watch the room go quiet-then ask who's still pretending they don't like cheesecake.
Ready in about 11 hours start to finish (most of that chill time, promise).
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🗝️ Why this cheesecake recipe owns Christmas
This isn't just dessert-it's a full-blown holiday flex. The crust hums with dark molasses and spice, the filling's rich enough to make you rethink your life choices, and the whole thing looks like you hired a pastry chef with skills.
It bakes up creamy without cracking, slices like a dream, and your kitchen smells like every candle in the house finally lived up to its label. Smooth, spiced perfection that turns your kitchen into the best-smelling place on earth.
🧾 Ingredients for gingerbread cheesecake
Everything here plays a part in the holiday magic-warm spices, dark molasses, and enough cream cheese to qualify as a love language. Simple pantry staples, but together? Pure gingerbread glamour.
- Gingersnaps: the crunchy backbone of our crust-basically edible Christmas joy.
- Butter: because restraint has no place in December.
- Cream cheese: the velvet heart of it all-smooth, rich, and entirely too tempting.
- Sugar: the sweet talker that keeps everything balanced.
- Brown sugar: adds that deep, caramelly hum that whispers homemade.
- Molasses: dark, moody, and absolutely essential-like the bass line in a gospel choir.
- Eggs: the glue that keeps this creamy dream from falling apart under pressure.
- Cloves: tiny but mighty, bringing the drama like holiday perfume in a small bottle.
- Cinnamon: warm, familiar, and utterly bossy about being the star spice.
- Ginger: fiery, festive, and the reason it's called gingerbread and not mildbread.
- Vanilla: softens the edges and ties it all together like a Southern drawl.
- Sour cream: secret weapon for that silky, tangy finish that makes the whole thing sing.
Want to skip the chaos and bake like you've got elves on payroll? Grab the free Gingerbread Cheesecake Kitchen Cheat Sheet-your secret weapon for perfect texture, zero cracks, and smug holiday satisfaction. Extra tips, FAQs, storage information, and more. Print it, stick it on the fridge, and let everyone wonder when you got so put-together.
📖 Recipe
Gingerbread Cheesecake
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
Crust
- 2 cups gingersnap crumbs
- ½ cup butter, melted - you might not need all of it.
Cheesecake Filling
- 32 ounces cream cheese, original not low fat or no fat - 4 8-ounce packages, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 teaspoons ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspooon cloves
- 6 eggs, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 16 ounces sour cream, room temperature - not reduced fat or low fat or fat free
Instructions
Crust
- Cover the outside bottom and sides of a high sided, 9-inch springform pan with aluminum foil. Make sure it's tight.
- Pulse the gingersnaps in the bowl of a food processor until they are crumbs.
- Stir in enough melted butter to make the crumbs hold together.
- Press the crumb mixture over the bottom and half way up the sides of the springform pan.
- Set aside.
Cheesecake
- Preheat the oven to 375.
- Place the cream cheese and sugars in the bowl of a mixer.
- Beat with the paddle attachment until light and creamy on low speed for 8 minutes. DO NOT ever use a whisk or beat on medium or high speed.
- Add the molasses and spices.
- With the mixer still on low speed add the eggs, one at a time, beating 1 to 2 minutes after each.
- Fold in the vanilla and sour cream with a rubber spatula, folding until the sour cream is completely mixed in.
- Pour the filling into the prepared crust and place in a large roasting pan.
- Pour enough boiling water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cheesecake.
- Bake for 1 hour.
- Turn the oven off and let the cheesecake sit for 1 hour. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR.
- Remove from the oven, take out of the water bath, and remove the foil.
- Let the cheesecake sit away from drafts until it cools to room temperature.
- Place a folded paper towel on the top of the cheesecake and cover the top of the pan with aluminum foil.
- Chill overnight or at least 8 hours.
- Just before serving remove the aluminum foil and paper towel from the top; run a knife around the edge of the springform pan to loosen the cake.
- Remove the springform pan.
- Top with desired topping and serve.
Notes
- Room temp everything. Cold cream cheese is the enemy of smooth batter. Give it time to warm up-patience is your secret ingredient.
- Don't skip the water bath. It's not optional. It's what keeps your cheesecake silky instead of stress-cracked and tragic.
- Don't whip the cream cheese! Mix on low with the paddle or you'll have a light fluffy cheesecake not a dense, rich one.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
🔪 How to make this New York style holiday cheesecake
Follow these steps and you'll pull a showstopper from the oven that looks bakery-level but feels like grandma's kitchen-if grandma had Wi-Fi and a stand mixer. It's easy, no-fuss, and guaranteed to make the house smell like Christmas came early.
- Smash those gingersnaps into submission and press them into a springform pan like you mean it.
- Beat the cream cheese, eggs, sugar, spices, and molasses together until it's smoother than your best holiday lie.
- Fold in the sour cream and vanilla-gently, like you actually read the directions this time.
- Pour that spiced-up batter into the crust and admire your work; this is what festive ambition looks like. Bake and cool as instructed or plan on cracks the size of the Grand Canyon.
👩🍳 You were gonna text me anyway
Got questions? Of course you do-this cheesecake has main character energy. Here's everything you need to know before someone inevitably asks if they can "just skip the water bath." Have other questions? Download the free kitchen cheat sheet or ask me in the comments!
Sure, if you enjoy cheesecake that looks like the desert floor. The bain marie keeps everything silky and crack-free, so grab that roasting pan and show some commitment.
A bain marie is just a fancy way of saying you bake your cheesecake in a hot tub-it keeps it from drying out and cracking. It's a pan of simmering water that you put the cheesecake pan in as it bakes. Here's more about the roasting pan water bath method - How to Make and Use a Bain Marie
The edges should look set, but the center should still have a gentle wobble-think confident belly dancer, not trampoline. It'll firm up as it cools, promise. The temp in the center will be about 150F.
📚 If you loved this gingersnap crust cheesecake, you're my kind of baker
Can you ever have enough From-scratch holiday desserts? No, no you can't.
If gingerbread cheesecake is the queen of Christmas, then the pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust is her autumn predecessor-the one who shows up in a chunky knit sweater and makes the whole house smell like cinnamon ambition. That same spicy crust anchors a rich pumpkin filling so smooth it could talk its way out of traffic court.
Now, the pecan pie cheesecake? That's just decadent showboating. We're talking an actual pecan pie baked into the bottom, smothered in cheesecake, then crowned with pecan praline like a jewel heist gone right. It's over-the-top, wildly Southern, and absolutely refuses to apologize for your holiday weight gain.
And when you've had your fill of warm spice and sticky sweetness, let peppermint bark cheesecake sweep in wearing red lipstick and candy cane sparkle-cool, creamy, and ready to slay the dessert table with one frosty glance.
And there you have it-a cheesecake worthy of its own Christmas carol. Warm spices, creamy filling, and that molasses-kissed crust come together like the best kind of holiday office party: rich, a little scandalous, and impossible to forget.
Serve it once, and it'll become family legend. The kind of recipe people talk about between bites, asking if you really made it yourself. Just smile and say "of course." Then go brag on Instagram and tag me-I want to see your cheesecake glow-up.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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