Pumpkin Cheesecake

I used to have so many issues making cheesecake. I could never figure out how long to wait before eating it. In the middle of the last week I worked at American Apparel (hated it there), we were having a Christmas party that weekend. I volunteered to make mini oreo cheesecakes. And my god, it was the worst idea ever.

A few days before the party, I made the filling and had it chilled over night. The next morning, I put everything together, baked and put back in the oven. The day after that, I tried one. It. Was. Terrible. Didn't taste like cheesecake, oreos, or anything edible. That also happened to be the day of the party. Knowing myself pretty well, I freaked out and assumed I messed up the ingredients somehow. So after the stupid rummage sale I signed up for, I sped to the closest grocery store, and made another attempt. I still had about 4 hours till the party started when I set it in the fridge to chill. After those four hours, I tried it again. AND AGAIN IT WAS FUCKING TERRIBLE. I raged, stomped over to Vons, picked up a boston cream pie, and drove my angry ass to work.

The next couple days, I noticed that no one had thrown out the cakes. My mom came into the kitchen and told me the cheesecake came out really good and insisted that I eat one. I refused. I didn't want to know if they tasted good or not. Either way, I would have raged. So hard. After this, I learned that the longer the cheesecake is chilled, the better the flavors combine, thus resulting in tasty goodness. Not to mention, you probably don't want to calculate all the unhealthy goods in this recipe, but nonetheless, it's adapted from the amazing Paula Dean. Southern Cooking is for the win.

Pumpkin Cheesecake
Crust:
1 3/4 graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter

Filling:
3 packages of 8 oz cream cheese
1 can of 15 oz pureed pumpkin
3 eggs plus 1 yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. In a medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter.
Press mixture down into a spring form pan. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add puree, eggs, yolk, sour cream, sugar and spices until combined. Then add flour and vanilla until well combined.
Pour on to the crust and spread out evenly. Bake for an hour, depending on your oven, or until the cake is set. Remove from the oven and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Now you MUST chill this thing for a good chunk of hours; 4 is recommended, but hell, I'd go for 2 or 3 days.