• Pfeffernusse cookie base [ready made pfeffernusse or (*from scratch – smells so good*) see recipe below]
• Cheesecake Batter
• Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

For batter:

• 3 lbs of room temp cream cheese
• 1.5 lbs sugar
• 6 oz sour cream
• 9 large eggs
• 6 tsp vanilla
• 8 oz finely diced candied ginger
• 4 oz ganache (to use once panned up) equal parts chocolate and cream

For crust:

• 6oz crushed pfeffernusse cookies combined with 6 oz chopped nuts (I used walnuts and pecans)
• 2 oz melted butter
• 2 oz honey

For cream cheese icing:

• 4 oz Butter
• 8 oz Cream Cheese
• Pinch of Salt
• 4 cups sifted Powdered Sugar

For pfeffernusse cookies:

• 12 oz Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 4 tsp Gingerbread spice (soul of the crust – Lebkuchengewurz)
• 1/4 Cup Almond Meal or Crushed Whole Almonds or slivers
• 5 oz Brown Sugar
• 1/3 Cup Honey
• 5 Tbsp Butter
• 4 Tbsp Heavy Cream
• 1 Medium to large egg

For gingerbread spice:

Use as many whole spices as possible and grind them in coffee grinder or blender

• 2.5 Tbsp cinnamon/canela
• 2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp of each: allspice, ginger, coriander, cardamon pods, star anise
• 1/4 tsp of each: white pepper, nutmeg and mace (or ½ tsp of nutmeg)

Directions

For batter:

Mix cream cheese with sugar and scrape occasionally to help make smooth. Add sour cream & vanilla slowly while mixing, avoiding lumps. Add in eggs slowly avoiding lumps. Stir in the ginger pieces. Store up to 5 days in cooler or pour into prepared crust and pan. When ready to bake, fill your pan ½ inch from the top. Drizzle in warm ganache and swirl with toothpick.

For crust:

To bake Pre heat oven to 250 with 1 gallon of water in a roasting pan on bottom shelf, add cheesecake to middle shelf and bake 2 hours, it should set like jello, so bouncy and jiggly but not wet or wavy, rest 1 hour at room temp then begin to chill. I have always found cheesecake is easiest to work with when frozen. If you do not have a springform pan, especially! Once frozen, rest in hot water to release the sides and bottom from pan. Invert onto a cake board and work the cheesecake out of the pan, flip onto serving board and finish decorating.

For icing:

Combine room temp cream cheese and butter and beat until smooth, add salt and gradually add in sugar until completely combined.

For cookies:

Combine your dry ingredients and spices into a bowl and set aside.

Combine the honey, brown sugar, butter and cream in a saucepan and heat until butter is melted, rest several minutes then add into dry ingredients. Once incorporated and your egg and stir until well combined. Partially flatten and wrap in plastic wrap. Store up to one week in cooler.

For cheesecake crust, roll out the dough 1/2” thick and bake 300 degrees 10 to 15 minutes. Once cool pulse in food processor.

For Cookies,

Make two thin rolled logs out of dough and cut at 1 inch intervals, about the size of a pecan. Place on baking sheet, 300

Enjoy or glaze with a powdered sugar and water glaze that will harden (est. 1 cup powdered sugar, 1-2 tbls of water) or chocolate glaze that will harden (1 Tbls each: oil, cocoa powder, water, plus ½ cup of powdered sugar and ¼ tsp vanilla)

Click HERE to download this recipe.