If you’ve ever tried my easy cheesecake pie, you know what to expect with this pumpkin cheesecake pie variation. This tastes just like regular pumpkin cheesecake, but takes a fraction of the time, and there’s no water bath needed! The smooth & creamy spiced filling pairs perfectly with a sweet Biscoff crumb crust and fresh whipped cream.
This pumpkin cheesecake pie is for all of us who love pumpkin pie and cheesecake, but don’t have the time and energy for either. I feel like I’m talking to a lot of people with this one! 😉
What’s Different From Regular Pumpkin Cheesecake?
Have you tried my cheesecake pie before? It’s like regular cheesecake, only a little smaller. We’re making the same thing here today, but adding some seasonal flavors and spices. This recipe is like my pumpkin swirl cheesecake, but scaled down to fit in a pie dish (and sans the swirl).
I also have a caramel apple cheesecake pie recipe, if you’re in the mood for apples.
Because this filling isn’t as tall as a regular cheesecake, and only uses 2 eggs, you can skip the cheesecake water bath. This means all those fussy steps we take when making a traditional cheesecake—baking it in a water bath, cooling it in the oven, exceptionally long chilling times, plus the possibility of large cracks on the surface—those rules don’t apply to a smaller cheesecake pie!
Start With a 2-Ingredient Biscoff Crumb Crust
While you can absolutely make this pie with a graham cracker crust, taste testers (and I, personally) went ga-ga (the official term) over this pumpkin cheesecake pie’s Biscoff crust.
If you’re not familiar with Biscoff cookies (AKA speculoos), they’re a European biscuit (AKA crispy crunchy cookie) with a distinctive caramelized, cinnamon-spiced flavor. Which makes for an absolutely perfect flavor pairing with this pumpkin cheesecake pie filling! You can find Biscoff in the cookie aisle of most major grocery stores.
The steps to make the Biscoff crust are exactly the same as a graham cracker crust, minus the added sugar, and it conveniently uses exactly one standard-size package of Biscoff biscuits/cookies. A food processor is best for breaking down the cookies into fine crumbs. I have a separate post about making a Biscoff pie crust if you want to read more.
Press the mixture into a pie dish, then pre-bake it for 10 minutes before adding the filling.
Grab These Ingredients for the Pumpkin Filling:
- Bricks of Cream Cheese: Make sure you’re using bricks of full-fat cream cheese and not the cream cheese in a tub you would use for spreading on bagels. The same rule applies for making cream cheese frosting.
- Brown Sugar: You’ll love that this pumpkin cheesecake filling isn’t overly sweet. Using brown sugar gives the filling a little more flavor from those molasses undertones.
- Heavy Cream: This smooths out the filling so it tastes creamy. You only need 2 Tablespoons, so use the rest of the carton to make whipped cream to go on top of the pie.
- Vanilla Extract: A must.
- Lemon Juice: A teensy splash of lemon juice adds brightness and depth of flavor; trust me, you want that little bit of tang here.
- Spices: Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom. I usually use cloves when making pumpkin pie, but I *love* a dash of cardamom here for something a little different. As always, a pinch of black pepper deepens the spice flavor—it’s my secret ingredient in many pumpkin desserts.
- Eggs: A main ingredient in any baked cheesecake, to help it set up. Want an egg-free option? Try my no-bake pumpkin cheesecake instead.
Mix up the filling, spread it into the warm pre-baked crust, then bake.
Cool, Chill, & Serve
You know how you have to wait a few hours for a regular cheesecake to cool and then you have to wait another 4+ hours for it to chill in the refrigerator? You’re doing the same thing here, only in a fraction of the time! The pumpkin cheesecake pie cools for about 1 hour at room temperature (no need to let it cool in the oven like we do with classic cheesecake recipes) and then chills for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. This is a great make-ahead dessert.
I always love a little garnish on cheesecake, and I recommend a simple topping of homemade whipped cream with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice. I used Ateco 849 piping tip for piping the whipped cream around the border of the pictured pie.
The pie would also taste amazing with a drizzle of salted caramel sauce, or even some sparkly sugared cranberries!
In Short, Here’s Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
- Velvety-smooth tangy-sweet pumpkin cheesecake filling
- Deliciously spiced with buttery 2-ingredient Biscoff cookie crust
- Batter and crust come together quickly
- Bakes and cools much faster than a regular cheesecake
- Great make-ahead dessert recipe
- Pumpkin pie meets cheesecake… do I really need to say any more?
This recipe is part of Sally’s Pie Week, an annual tradition where I share a handful of new recipes that fit into the pie/crisp/tart category. Join the community below!
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Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes (includes crust)
- Total Time: 4 hours, 10 minutes
- Yield: one 9-inch pie
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
If you’ve ever tried my easy cheesecake pie, you know what to expect with this pumpkin cheesecake pie variation. This is just like regular pumpkin cheesecake, but takes a fraction of the time, and there’s no water bath needed! The smooth & creamy spiced filling pairs perfectly with a sweet Biscoff crumb crust and fresh whipped cream. The cooled pie must chill for at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days). This is a great make-ahead dessert.
Ingredients
Biscoff Crust
- 32 Biscoff cookies (8.8 ounces/250g)
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 16 ounces (452g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (170g) pumpkin puree (canned is best)
- 1 Tablespoon (8g) cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (do not omit)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- small pinch freshly ground black pepper (optional)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- optional, for garnish: whipped cream and sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Make the crust: Use a food processor or blender to grind the Biscoff cookies into fine crumbs. You can also place them in a zip-top bag and crush them into fine crumbs using a rolling pin and some arm muscle. In a medium bowl, stir the Biscoff crumbs and melted butter together until combined. The mixture will be thick, coarse, and sandy. Try to smash/break up any large chunks. Pour the mixture into an ungreased 9-inch pie dish. With medium pressure using your hand, pat the crumbs down into the bottom and up the sides to make a compact crust. Do not pack down with heavy force because that makes the crust too hard. Simply pat down until the mixture is no longer crumby/crumbly. Tips: You can use a small flat-bottomed measuring cup to help press down the bottom crust and smooth out the surface, but do not pack down too hard. And run a spoon around the bottom “corner” where the edge and bottom meet to help make a rounded crust—this helps prevent the crust from falling apart. For more shaping technique tips, see the Biscoff pie crust recipe page.
- Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Make the filling in the next step as the crust bakes.
- Make the filling: In a large bowl, using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until the mixture is smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Add the pumpkin, cornstarch, heavy cream, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and spices, and then beat until fully combined and very smooth. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed to combine—you don’t want any lumps. Then on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until just blended. After the second egg is incorporated into the batter, stop mixing. If you still see some lumps at this point, switch to a whisk and whisk by hand just until you break up the large lumps. Some small lumps are OK.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F (163°C). Spread the pumpkin cheesecake filling into the warm crust.
- Bake the pie for 40–45 minutes or until the filling is *almost* fully set with a little wobble in the very center. Give the pie a light tap to check. During bake time, if the pie is browning too quickly on top and around the edges, tent with aluminum foil.
- Set the pie on a wire rack and cool for 1 hour at room temperature. Then place it in the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days before serving. (Cover if chilling it for longer than a few hours.)
- Feel free to garnish the pie with any of the optional toppings listed in the Notes right before or a couple hours before serving. For the pictured pie, I used a piping bag fitted with Ateco 849 piping tip and piped whipped cream in a zigzag pattern around the chilled pie. For neat slices, use a clean sharp knife, and wipe the knife clean after each cut.
- Cover and store leftover pie in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make-Ahead & Freezing Instructions: This cheesecake pie can be made up to 2 days in advance. It’s best if the crust is still a bit warm when you pour in the filling, so I don’t recommend pre-baking the crust in advance. You can also freeze the baked and cooled cheesecake pie for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor | Glass Mixing Bowl | 9-inch Pie Dish | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Whisk | Cooling Rack | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Ateco 849 Piping Tip
- Graham Cracker Crust: You can use a graham cracker crust instead of the Biscoff crust if you prefer. Or try the gingersnap crust from this pumpkin swirl cheesecake recipe.
- Room-Temperature Ingredients: Bring all cold ingredients to room temperature before beginning. Room-temperature ingredients combine quickly and evenly, so you won’t risk over-mixing. Also, beating cold ingredients together will result in a chunky cheesecake filling, hardly the way you want to begin!
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: I have a homemade blend recipe for pumpkin pie spice, and you can use it here. Replace the ground ginger, nutmeg, and pepper with 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. You’ll still want to use the ground cinnamon and cardamom as called for in this recipe.
SO good. I am always uncertain about the wobble part. I guess I overcooked mine because it cracked. But, it was still tasty. This is my first taste of cardemom. Thank you Sally!
I’ve made this twice – for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. Everyone loved it! The instructions are easy to follow and it doesn’t take long at all. Will be on regular rotation.
This recipe was great and my family loved it (texture and crust!), but I felt the spice mix was a little strong for my specific taste. It might have been the cardamom but I was curious what you might recommend to reduce the flavor of the spices. I wasn’t sure if it was cutting one particular spice (such as the cardamom) or cutting them all down by a half, etc. was the right way to go. Thank you!!
Hi Megan, we’re so glad it was a hit! You can certainly reduce the spices if desired. If cardamom isn’t a favorite, you can simply omit it (or replace with more of another spice). Thank you again for giving this one a try!
Hi there, I’ve been reading through a few of your cheesecake pie and classic cheesecake recipes, and I’m wondering what happens when you use tub cream cheese rather than the brick. I’m looking into using a vegan cream cheese, which is in a tub and definitely has the tub cream cheese texture/softness. I’m wondering if it’s just a mild difference in the stiffness of the pie and cheesecakes with the tub cream cheese, or if it’s more critical due to something like fat content or the structure of the brick cream cheese, and the tub stuff becomes a disaster? Thanks so much!
Hi Ali! We’re happy to help. That’s correct—tub cream cheese is not recommended for cheesecake, as the fat content and overall consistency prevent it from properly setting as needed for cheesecake. Unfortunately there isn’t a great work around for this, but if you find any vegan cream cheese bricks that work well, please do let us know!
Me and my dad made it for thanks giving it turned our so good! Our ovens not working so we air fried it and it turned out perfect!
The second time we made it we put to much lemon juice in so it turned out lemony lol both times it was good though! Thanks so much for the great recipe
It came out totally delicious, creamy and festive! everybody was asking for seconds. For sure I will be making it again. I added just a pinch of salt to the batter to bring the flavors forward.
This cheesecake pie is delicious! I made it to the recipe and also made her salted caramel, which is a wonderful addition to the pie. This will be a yearly tradition.