Have I got your attention? Yep, I’m talking cheesecake. And I’m talking ginger. I love the taste of a good, gingery gingersnap. That little bit of bite backed up with a bit of molasses does a happy dance on my tongue. Combine a few gingersnaps with a cold glass of milk and you’ve got a great late night snack.
So a while back I got to thinking that ginger might be really tasty in cheesecake. A gingersnap crust with some extra ginger in the cheesecake might be something that really works. And I’ve been rolling that around in my head for a couple of months. Mrs. CB didn’t need any encouragement—she’s always up for cheesecake. So I finally targeted one of my rare days off to “do the deed”.
Now, this recipe is really an adaptation of an adaptation of a Martha Stewart recipe. (That’s just to give credit where credit is due). But we decided that we wanted a bit more “snap” to the ginger than the hint of ginger that comes from only using gingersnaps.
The more my tastebuds fantasized about this the more they told me that what I wanted was the taste you get from the ginger when you put those slivers of pink ginger on sushi. So, we set off on a quest for that kind of ginger and found it at Frazier Farms in their sushi bar. Perfect.
OK, so the recipe says that you’re supposed to bake your cheesecake, then let it cool at room temperature for a couple of hours and then refrigerate it for a couple of hours more. Well that’s fine and dandy. But I didn’t really start the process until about 4:30 in the afternoon—oops too late to be able to do all that and then have Triple Ginger Cheesecake for dessert.
The solution was ingenious. Cheesecake for breakfast! And it was a goooooood breakfast!
This really, really tastes good. Now, we like ginger so we made it so that it’s right there on the edge when you bite into it. You can taste the “gingeriness” in every bite. If you don’t like the taste of ginger that much then just dial it back a bit—maybe even skip the prepare/pickled ginger. But, oh man this is fantastic!
Now, one quick thing to mention—if you don’t have a springform pan (and I didn’t until Mrs. CB got me one for Christmas—I guess that was some kind of hint) just use a disposable foil pie pan you can get at the dollar store. At the end I’ll give you a couple of hints for adapting the recipe for that.
Recipe: Triple Ginger Cheesecake
Summary: Oh my, this is tasty! Here’s a from scratch recipe for Ginger Cheesecake. The crust is gingerbread cookies and the filling has ginger 2 ways. You’ll love it!
Ingredients
- Crust
- 2 ½ cups gingerbread cookie crumbs
- ¼ cup softened butter or margarine
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground ginger (if needed)
- Filling
- 3 8 oz packages softened cream cheese
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¾ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp all spice
- 1 tbsp prepared/pickled ginger
Instructions
- Get out your food processor (or a 1 gal. freezer bag), cutting board, large mixing bowl, mixing spoon, hand mixer and a 9” spring form pan.
- Turn oven on to 350 to preheat.
- Put whole gingerbread cookies into food processor or freezer bag. Pulse processor until cookies are coarse crumbs (or with cookies in freezer bag, tap with the flat edge of a meat tenderizer or a sauce pan until cookies are loose crumbs).
- Put the crumbs into a bowl. Keep going it until you’ve got at least 2 ½ cups.
- Add brown sugar and powdered ginger (the only reason to add a bit of powdered ginger is if the cookies don’t have enough gingery flavor).
- Add the softened butter/margarine and stir thoroughly. It takes a bit to fully incorporate all the ingredients. (If you’re concerned about getting too much butter/margarine then leave a bit out—you can add it when you’re mixing if you think the crust isn’t damp and binding enough).
- Spray the bottom and sides of the springform pan then glop the crust into it and work it to the edges and about 3/4-1” up the sides. (Hint: Use the bottom of a glass or the back of a spoon or your fingertips).
- Put the crust into the 350 oven for about 15 (check it at 15; the crust should be “setting up” & not “glisteny”—if not leave it for another 5 minutes or so). Remove from oven & put the crust aside.
- Filling:
- Reduce oven temperature to 325
- Rinse out the mixing bowl & swipe it dry. Add cream cheese, brown sugar, eggs, molasses & vanilla. Give it a quick hand stir.
- Add salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
- On your cutting board, chop the prepared/pickled ginger into about ¼” pieces and add it to the filling. (You can add a bit more if you like extra “zing”).
- Use your hand mixer to thoroughly mix starting on low and gradually speeding up until everything is mixed/blended together and looks like cake batter.
- Pour the filling into the crust-lined springform pan.
- Take out a roasting pan when you reset oven to 325. Put about 1” of water in it and put it in the oven on the middle rack. Gently place pan with cheesecake into the middle of the pan when it’s ready to bake. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour & 15 minutes. Remove from oven and bath.
- Take a quick peek and if the cake is set with at most a tiny jiggle in the middle then take it out of the oven and the bath and let it cool.
- (Or you can just leave the oven at 350, put the springform pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 50 minutes then turn the oven off, open the door and leave the cheesecake in the oven for about a half hour as it cools and sets.
- Allow 1-2 hours for the cheesecake to cool on a rack. Then put it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2-4 hours (overnight is good too).
Preparation time: 30 minute(s)
Cooking time: 1 hour(s)
Number of servings (yield): 8
(Print Version at bottom of post)
This really isn’t that hard to do. A bit of organization and patience is all it takes. OK, one thing that went a bit wrong for me was that I goofed and just “eyeballed” the amount of margarine I put into the crust, ended up putting too much in and didn’t have anymore cookies to boost the amount of crumbs. The crust came out a bit “wet”. What I ended up doing was pre-baking the crust about another 10 minutes which “dried it out”. 
And speaking of gingersnaps—if at all possible use L’il Dutch Maid brand which is nice and gingery (the dollar store was out of it and I used a different brand which didn’t have the ginger flavor. That’s why I added a teaspoon of ground ginger to my crust.
USING A SMALLER PAN: So, if you’re going to use a foil or other pie pan, what I would suggest is to cut the amount of crushed gingersnaps to 2 cups and reduce the margarine to 2 tablespoons. And for the filling only use 2 packages of cream cheese, 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of brown sugar, 2 tbsp molasses, ¾ tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon and ¾ tbsp prepared ginger. That should be about right.
The Cheap Bastid Test: Well, I wouldn’t exactly call this cheap. But it’s definitely cheap when compared to what you spend on a couple of slices of cheesecake at a restaurant. The 3 packages of cream cheese cost a total of $5 (on special and with coupons). Gingersnaps were $1. Eggs cost about $1.25, brown sugar was about $.50, the prepared ginger was $1 ($1.99 and I used less than half) and let’s call the rest of the ingredients another $1. That would bring the total to $9.75. A bit pricey but let’s figure that the least amount you’ll spend on 2 slices of cheesecake at even a modest restaurant would be $10 and maybe as high as $15-18. So for the price of 2 slices I made an entire cheesecake which we cut into 10 slices which are big enough for us for dessert. That’s less than $1 a slice. And at 8 slices it comes out to $1.22 a slice. So yeah, this is reasonable.
That’s the Cheap Bastid Way: Eat Good. Eat Cheap. Be Grateful!
- Ingredients
- Crust
- 2 ½ cups gingerbread cookie crumbs
- ¼ cup softened butter or margarine
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground ginger (if needed)
- Filling
- 3 8 oz packages softened cream cheese
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¾ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp all spice
- 1 tbsp prepared/pickled ginger
- Get out your food processor (or a 1 gal. freezer bag), cutting board, large mixing bowl, mixing spoon, hand mixer and a 9” spring form pan.
- Turn oven on to 350 to preheat.
- Put whole gingerbread cookies into food processor or freezer bag. Pulse processor until cookies are coarse crumbs (or with cookies in freezer bag, tap with the flat edge of a meat tenderizer or a sauce pan until cookies are loose crumbs).
- Put the crumbs into a bowl. Keep going it until you’ve got at least 2 ½ cups.
- Add brown sugar and powdered ginger (the only reason to add a bit of powdered ginger is if the cookies don’t have enough gingery flavor).
- Add the softened butter/margarine and stir thoroughly. It takes a bit to fully incorporate all the ingredients. (If you’re concerned about getting too much butter/margarine then leave a bit out—you can add it when you’re mixing if you think the crust isn’t damp and binding enough).
- Spray the bottom and sides of the springform pan then glop the crust into it and work it to the edges and about 3/4-1” up the sides. (Hint: Use the bottom of a glass or the back of a spoon or your fingertips).
- Put the crust into the 350 oven for about 15 (check it at 15; the crust should be “setting up” & not “glisteny”—if not leave it for another 5 minutes or so). Remove from oven & put the crust aside.
- Filling:
- Reduce oven temperature to 325
- Rinse out the mixing bowl & swipe it dry. Add cream cheese, brown sugar, eggs, molasses & vanilla. Give it a quick hand stir.
- Add salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
- On your cutting board, chop the prepared/pickled ginger into about ¼” pieces and add it to the filling. (You can add a bit more if you like extra “zing”).
- Use your hand mixer to thoroughly mix starting on low and gradually speeding up until everything is mixed/blended together and looks like cake batter.
- Pour the filling into the crust-lined springform pan.
- Take out a roasting pan when you reset oven to 325. Put about 1” of water in it and put it in the oven on the middle rack. Gently place pan with cheesecake into the middle of the pan when it’s ready to bake. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour & 15 minutes. Remove from oven and bath.
- Take a quick peek and if the cake is set with at most a tiny jiggle in the middle then take it out of the oven and the bath and let it cool.
- (Or you can just leave the oven at 350, put the springform pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 50 minutes then turn the oven off, open the door and leave the cheesecake in the oven for about a half hour as it cools and sets.
- Allow 1-2 hours for the cheesecake to cool on a rack. Then put it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2-4 hours (overnight is good too).
Sounds delicious. I love pickled ginger, so it sounds even more delicious. And I am glad you put up so many pictures, for us to really follow along, in case we are nervous cook. Thanks, Walter.
Holly–thanks for your comment. If you like cheesecake and if you like ginger with some “zing”, you’ll love this recipe. And, I’m no gourmet but I think the “trick” to not being a “nervous cook” is to be as organized as you can and take your time. Know that there aren’t too many “mistakes” that result in something being inedible. Like with this recipe–I goofed on the crust. I broke one of my own “rules” when it comes to the “fat” or margarine. Go a bit light & don’t “eyeball it”. You can always add a little bit more, but once it’s in you can’t take it out. That rule applies to seasonings too, by the way. Thanks again.
You already had me at “ginger”! And then to add “cheesecake” as well?
I’m suspicious about pickled ginger, added in pieces, though; I’d want to at least pastify it in the food processor, or better yet just pulp up some fresh ginger. Did the pickledness come through at all in the final product?
I agree with your recommendation of gingersnaps, it seems that whenever they come in a brown waxed-paper bag like that, they are a world above in terms of gingeriness.
RubeRad, what I did with the prepared ginger was to finely chop it into about 1/4 inch pieces and incorporate it into the “batter”. You couldn’t see any pieces in the finished cheesecake but you got both the extra “bite” plus a hint of the pickling. Really pleasant. And like I mentioned in the post, the taste was right on the edge for us which might make it a bit too gingery for some people, but the amount of prepared ginger can always be reduced. And yes, you can use fresh ginger if you want. Thanks.