Made this for my baby's first birthday party - I have to give it 5 stars. :)

Awesome cheesecake! It tastes VERY similar to pumpkin cheesecake without the pumpkin. I made them into mini cheesecakes (regular muffin size). Here are the things I did differently: 1. Used 1/2 a lb box of gingersnaps - grind finely in a food processor. A 1/2 box is about 2 cups crumbs. Add 1 tbsp sugar and if you're using unsalted butter (as I did), add 1/8 tsp salt. 2. Pressed about 1 heaping tbsp crumb mixture into 24 muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes then cool. 3. Used 1 pkg 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese and 2 pkg normal. 4. Baked muffin tins in a water bath for 12-13 minutes. DID NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR. When the timer went off, I just shut off the oven and left it closed for about 3 hours, then opened it a crack to let some more heat out, then removed after about another hour. Waterbath + slow cooling = no cracks! 5. Ended up only making 22 cheesecakes (about 1/4 cup of filling per cake). Topped with a ganache of 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 c dark chocolate chips + 3/4 c milk chocolate chips (all I had on hand). Made WAY too much chocolate - should have only made half.

I used a regular graham cracker crust, and omitted the chocolate topping! Wonderful taste!

This was fabulous. Made exactly as is. Perfect balance of flavors!