Marbled Pumpkin Gingerbread Tart

 This was from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook that I had lent from the library. It was definitely more pumpkin than cheesecake an the gingerbread crust was a nice change from the normal graham cracker or flour pie crust. We made homemade whipped cream to go with it, yum! Several notes for next time:

•  I weighed out the crackers since I think graham crackers have gotten smaller. 
• I should have let the cream cheese soften because it did not swirl nicely at all, it was quite clumpy. 

Marbled Pumpkin Gingerbread Tart

Makes: One 9 inch tart, serving 8

Time: 90 minutes

Ingredients:

    Crust

        4 ounces gingersnap cookies, coarsely broken

        3 ounces graham crackers

        4 tablespoons salted butter, melted

    Cheesecake batter

        4 ounces cream cheese

        3 tablespoons granulated sugar

        1 large egg yolk

    Pumpkin batter

        1 large egg

        1 large egg white

        1 1/4 cups of pumpkin puree

        1/4 cup granulated sugar

        1/4 cup brown sugar

        1/2 teaspoon table salt

        3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

        3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

        1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

        Few fresh gratings of nutmeg

        1 cup heavy cream

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
2. Finely grind the gingersnaps and graham crackers in a food processor (yielding 1 1/2 cups). Add the melted butter and process until the cookie-crumbs mixture is moistened. 
3. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch diameter tart pan with removeable bottom. Place pan on rimmed baking sheet. 
4. Mix together the ingredients for the cheesecake batter in a small bowl until smooth. 
5. For the pumpkin batter, beat the egg and egg white lightly in a large bowl. Whisk in the pumpkin, sugars, and spices. Gradually whisk in the cream. 
6. Pour the pumpkin batter into the gingersnap-graham crust. Dollop the cheesecake batter over pumpkin batter, then marble them together decoratively with a knife. Try not to pierce the bottom crust as you do. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
7. Cool the tart completely on a rack, or in the fridge if you prefer it cold. Serve immediately, and refrigerate any leftovers. Theoretically, it keeps for several days but the crumb crust will get a little soft on the bottom after day one.  

EAT