Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake Tart

I love pumpkin. And I don't care that pumpkin-flavored everything starts showing up in August. My goal is to try as many pumpkin foods as I can until I make myself sick of it. I usually make this layered pumpkin-cream pie for dessert every Thanksgiving, but this year I wanted to try something different. When I saw a recipe for a beautiful marbled pumpkin cheesecake tart, I knew I had to make it. It looked like a lot of steps to make it, but it was easy and turned out great. It was very delicious, and the cream cheese swirl complemented the pumpkin nicely.

Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake Tart
Source: slightly adapted from The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Crust
10 to 12 full graham cracker sheets

3 to 4 tablespoons butter (melted)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon sugar

Cheesecake batter
4 oz. cream cheese (softened)
3 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt
1 large egg yolk

1/4 cup heavy cream

Pumpkin batter
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 and 1/4 cups pumpkin purée
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup heavy cream

For the crust

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Crush the graham crackers either using a food processor or put them in a large Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin or meat cleaver to crush them. 

Put the crumbs in a bowl (about 1 and 1/2 cups), add the cinnamon sugar and butter, and mix until combined.

Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch round (or equivalent size) tart pan.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, and cool on a wire rack.

For the cheesecake batter
Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and salt until creamy. 

Add the egg yolk and cream, and mix until smooth. Set aside.

For the pumpkin batter
Whisk the egg and egg white. Add pumpkin, sugars, salt, and spices, and mix until smooth.

Add the vanilla and cream, and mix until evenly combined.

Spread the pumpkin batter evenly over the cooled crust. 

Use a spoon to dollop the cheesecake batter over the pumpkin batter, and then run a knife through the cheesecake batter, dragging it into the pumpkin batter to create swirls.

Bake for 10 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for about 30 to 40 minutes (until the center is slightly jiggly).

Cool on a wire rack completely or can be refrigerated overnight.