If you’ve ever tried my easy cheesecake pie, you know what to expect with this pumpkin cheesecake pie variation. This tastes just like regular pumpkin cheesecake, but takes a fraction of the time, and there’s no water bath needed! The smooth & creamy spiced filling pairs perfectly with a sweet Biscoff crumb crust and fresh whipped cream.
One reader, Amanda, commented: “I’ve made this twice—for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyone loved it! The instructions are easy to follow, and it doesn’t take long at all. Will be on regular rotation. ★★★★★”
This pumpkin cheesecake pie is for all of us who love pumpkin pie and cheesecake, but don’t have the time and energy for either. I feel like I’m talking to a lot of people with this one! 😉
What’s Different From Regular Pumpkin Cheesecake?
Have you tried my cheesecake pie before? It’s like regular cheesecake, only a little smaller. We’re making the same thing here today, but adding some seasonal flavors and spices. This recipe is like my pumpkin swirl cheesecake, but scaled down to fit in a pie dish (and sans the swirl).
I also have a caramel apple cheesecake pie recipe, if you’re in the mood for apples.
Because this filling isn’t as tall as a regular cheesecake, and only uses 2 eggs, you can skip the cheesecake water bath. This means all those fussy steps we take when making a traditional cheesecake—baking it in a water bath, cooling it in the oven, exceptionally long chilling times, plus the possibility of large cracks on the surface—those rules don’t apply to a smaller cheesecake pie!
Start With a 2-Ingredient Biscoff Crumb Crust
While you can absolutely make this pie with a graham cracker crust, taste testers (and I, personally) went ga-ga (the official term) over this pumpkin cheesecake pie’s Biscoff pie crust.
If you’re not familiar with Biscoff cookies (AKA speculoos), they’re a European biscuit (AKA crispy crunchy cookie) with a distinctive caramelized, cinnamon-spiced flavor. Which makes for an absolutely perfect flavor pairing with this pumpkin cheesecake pie filling! You can find Biscoff in the cookie aisle of most major grocery stores.
The steps to make the Biscoff crust are exactly the same as a graham cracker crust, minus the added sugar, and it conveniently uses exactly one standard-size package of Biscoff biscuits/cookies. A food processor is best for breaking down the cookies into fine crumbs. I have a separate post about making a Biscoff pie crust if you want to read more.
Press the mixture into a pie dish, then pre-bake it for 10 minutes before adding the filling.
Grab These Ingredients for the Pumpkin Filling:
- Bricks of Cream Cheese: Make sure you’re using bricks of full-fat cream cheese and not the cream cheese in a tub you would use for spreading on bagels. The same rule applies for making cream cheese frosting.
- Brown Sugar: You’ll love that this pumpkin cheesecake filling isn’t overly sweet. Using brown sugar gives the filling a little more flavor from those molasses undertones.
- Heavy Cream: This smooths out the filling so it tastes creamy. You only need 2 Tablespoons, so use the rest of the carton to make whipped cream to go on top of the pie.
- Vanilla Extract: A must.
- Lemon Juice: A teensy splash of lemon juice adds brightness and depth of flavor; trust me, you want that little bit of tang here.
- Spices: Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom. I usually use cloves when making pumpkin pie, but I *love* a dash of cardamom here for something a little different. As always, a pinch of black pepper deepens the spice flavor—it’s my secret ingredient in many of my best pumpkin dessert recipes.
- Eggs: A main ingredient in any baked cheesecake, to help it set up. Want an egg-free option? Try my no-bake pumpkin cheesecake instead.
Mix up the filling, spread it into the warm pre-baked crust, then bake.
Cool, Chill, & Serve
You know how you have to wait a few hours for a regular cheesecake to cool and then you have to wait another 4+ hours for it to chill in the refrigerator? You’re doing the same thing here, only in a fraction of the time! The pumpkin cheesecake pie cools for about 1 hour at room temperature (no need to let it cool in the oven like we do with classic cheesecake recipes) and then chills for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. This is a great make-ahead dessert.
I always love a little garnish on cheesecake, and I recommend a simple topping of homemade whipped cream with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice. I used Ateco 849 piping tip for piping the whipped cream around the border of the pictured pie.
The pie would also taste amazing with a drizzle of salted caramel sauce, or even some sparkly sugared cranberries!
In Short, Here’s Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
- Velvety-smooth tangy-sweet pumpkin cheesecake filling
- Deliciously spiced with buttery 2-ingredient Biscoff cookie crust
- Batter and crust come together quickly
- Bakes and cools much faster than a regular cheesecake
- Great make-ahead dessert recipe
- Pumpkin pie meets cheesecake… do I really need to say any more?
This recipe is part of Sally’s Pie Week, an annual tradition where I share a handful of new recipes that fit into the pie/crisp/tart category. Join the community below!
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Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes (includes crust)
- Total Time: 4 hours, 10 minutes
- Yield: one 9-inch pie
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
If you’ve ever tried my easy cheesecake pie, you know what to expect with this pumpkin cheesecake pie variation. This is just like regular pumpkin cheesecake, but takes a fraction of the time, and there’s no water bath needed! The smooth & creamy spiced filling pairs perfectly with a sweet Biscoff crumb crust and fresh whipped cream. The cooled pie must chill for at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days). This is a great make-ahead dessert.
Ingredients
Biscoff Crust
- 32 Biscoff cookies (8.8 ounces/250g)
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 16 ounces (452g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (170g) pumpkin puree (canned is best)
- 1 Tablespoon (8g) cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (do not omit)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- small pinch freshly ground black pepper (optional)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- optional, for garnish: whipped cream and sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Make the crust: Use a food processor or blender to grind the Biscoff cookies into fine crumbs. You can also place them in a zip-top bag and crush them into fine crumbs using a rolling pin and some arm muscle. In a medium bowl, stir the Biscoff crumbs and melted butter together until combined. The mixture will be thick, coarse, and sandy. Try to smash/break up any large chunks. Pour the mixture into an ungreased 9-inch pie dish. With medium pressure using your hand, pat the crumbs down into the bottom and up the sides to make a compact crust. Do not pack down with heavy force because that makes the crust too hard. Simply pat down until the mixture is no longer crumby/crumbly. Tips: You can use a small flat-bottomed measuring cup to help press down the bottom crust and smooth out the surface, but do not pack down too hard. And run a spoon around the bottom “corner” where the edge and bottom meet to help make a rounded crust—this helps prevent the crust from falling apart. For more shaping technique tips, see the Biscoff pie crust recipe page.
- Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Make the filling in the next step as the crust bakes.
- Make the filling: In a large bowl, using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until the mixture is smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Add the pumpkin, cornstarch, heavy cream, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and spices, and then beat until fully combined and very smooth. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed to combine—you don’t want any lumps. Then on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until just blended. After the second egg is incorporated into the batter, stop mixing. If you still see some lumps at this point, switch to a whisk and whisk by hand just until you break up the large lumps. Some small lumps are OK.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F (163°C). Spread the pumpkin cheesecake filling into the warm crust.
- Bake the pie for 40–45 minutes or until the filling is *almost* fully set with a little wobble in the very center. Give the pie a light tap to check. During bake time, if the pie is browning too quickly on top and around the edges, tent with aluminum foil.
- Set the pie on a wire rack and cool for 1 hour at room temperature. Then place it in the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days before serving. (Cover if chilling it for longer than a few hours.)
- Feel free to garnish the pie with any of the optional toppings listed in the Notes right before or a couple hours before serving. For the pictured pie, I used a piping bag fitted with Ateco 849 piping tip and piped whipped cream in a zigzag pattern around the chilled pie. For neat slices, use a clean sharp knife, and wipe the knife clean after each cut.
- Cover and store leftover pie in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make-Ahead & Freezing Instructions: This cheesecake pie can be made up to 2 days in advance. It’s best if the crust is still a bit warm when you pour in the filling, so I don’t recommend pre-baking the crust in advance. You can also freeze the baked and cooled cheesecake pie for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor | Glass Mixing Bowl | 9-inch Pie Dish | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Whisk | Cooling Rack | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Ateco 849 Piping Tip
- Graham Cracker Crust: You can use a graham cracker crust instead of the Biscoff crust if you prefer. Or try the gingersnap crust from this pumpkin swirl cheesecake recipe.
- Room-Temperature Ingredients: Bring all cold ingredients to room temperature before beginning. Room-temperature ingredients combine quickly and evenly, so you won’t risk over-mixing. Also, beating cold ingredients together will result in a chunky cheesecake filling, hardly the way you want to begin!
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: I have a homemade blend recipe for pumpkin pie spice, and you can use it here. Replace the ground ginger, nutmeg, and pepper with 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. You’ll still want to use the ground cinnamon and cardamom as called for in this recipe.
I made this yesterday. Delicious. But I had much more cheesecake mix than would fit in my pastry case. Can I freeze the mixture only or do I need to make another case and bake it first? Thank you.
Hi Fiona, leftover cheesecake filling should freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before adding to a warm crust to bake. So glad it was a hit!
This cheesecake pie was very easy to make and tasted delicious!
So good! It was perfect and a hit at Thanksgiving this year! Thanks Sally! You are my go to for any and all desserts!! ❤️
This was a huge hit at Thanksgiving at a friend’s. Everyone loved it. I served the whipped cream separately so we could have cream on other pie choices. Making again next week for a dinner I’m hosting.
Great recipe! I was looking at multiple Sally pumpkin cheesecake recipes and I had already bought ginger cookies for the crust, so it had that crust. We were unable to find cardamom, so skipped that spice as well as the black pepper. Topped it with homemade whipped cream using the heavy cream we got for the cheesecake. Will definitely make again.
My family loved the pumpkin cheesecake so much they don’t care if we ever have regular pumpkin pie again. It was smooth, fluffy, and spicy. I had to make a graham cracker crust because I couldn’t find the cookies and it was very complementary to the pie. Superb recipe!
Absolutely delicious!
Hi there, I’m excited to give this a try. How many servings can I expect out of one pie here?
Hi! About 8-10.
Hi, so just before I need to make this on the day before Thanksgiving morning, can I use a 9×1 1/4 tart pan? I don’t have a standard 9″ pie tin. Will it fit in my tart pan? Thank you and happy holidays!
Hi Kim, your tart pan may be a bit too short for the recipe as is, but you can fill the pan accordingly and discard the leftover filling or use it to make a few mini cheesecakes on the side. Or, here is our pumpkin tart recipe that you might enjoy instead!
Thank you so much.!! I will bake the mini’s as I do have a texas size muffin tin. Happy Thanksgiving !
Will the baking time change at all if I use a spring form pan for the crust? I don’t have a pie crust to use at the moment.
Hi SC, while you could make this recipe in a springform pan, it would be a thin cheesecake. This cheesecake pie is thinner than a tall cheesecake. We’re unsure of the exact bake time using a springform pan. If you’re interested in a full-size cheesecake, you might enjoy our pumpkin swirl cheesecake or no-bake pumpkin cheesecake as well.
Where is the recipe???? I’ve been reading looking for 15 minutes and still do not have the ingredient amounts! Frustrating!!!
Hi Louise, it’s in a gray box underneath the header/section Sally’s Pie Week. You can click Jump to Recipe if you can’t find it when scrolling.
Can you make this in a 10″ pie pan & if so what are the adjustments.
Hi Joanna, you can make the recipe as written in a 10-inch pie dish, but it will be a bit thinner. You could try 1.5x time the cheesecake filling recipe (the crust as-is will be enough for a 10-inch dish), filling your crust, and then using any leftover batter to make mini cheesecakes. Hope you enjoy it!
I made it in a 10″ pie plate and it worked well
This looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it out! Do you think I could make these into mini pies using a standard muffin pan?
Hi Sarah, we’re sure you could. The recipe is similar to these mini pumpkin cheesecakes, if you’d like to follow those instructions and use this recipe.
Looking forward to making this recipe! Wondering how you would wrap it for the freezer so the plastic wrap doesn’t touch the top? How would you do it? Thank you!
Hi Jackie! If the plastic wrap is tightly stretched across the top of the dish, it *shouldn’t* touch the very top of the pie. However, if it does, you could always try adding a toothpick or two to the pie to act as a tent of sorts. Then you could cover up those spots with whipped cream when serving. Hope this helps and that the pie is a hit!
This recipe looks delicious! I’d like to make it in a 9×13 pan to serve as bars. Do you think doubling the recipe would work for that (knowing that bake time will be slightly different)?
Hi Olivia! We haven’t tested it ourselves, but a few readers have reported success using our similar caramel apple cheesecake pie and doubling it for a 9×13 pan—so we imagine that should work well here. We’re unsure of the exact bake time. Let us know if you do give it a try!
I made this recipe into bars!
I greased a 9×13 glass baking dish and made 1.5x the crust, baked for 10 min at 350° as the recipe indicates. I then doubled the filling and baked at 325° for about 55 minutes (start checking for doneness about 40-45 min depending on your oven).
I also made this recipe as a pie and it was delicious! Will definitely use this recipe again in the future! 😀
And forgot to mention – I subbed pumpkin pie spice for cardamom as I couldn’t find that at the store. Flavor was still great!
This looks so good! Would a regular dough crust work for this recipe too? Thanks!
Edie, absolutely. Whether you use homemade pie crust or store-bought pie crust, you’ll want to follow the same par-baking instructions from this regular pumpkin pie recipe.
Thank you for the detailed instructions, Sally! I made this for an office potluck and did not hear a single complaint (one of my colleagues asked for the recipe after and I was of course happy to share!) I omitted the cardamom because I didn’t have any and subbed with another 1/4 TSP of pumpkin pie spice. I think I would like to try the cardamom in it moving forward, and loved the biscoff base. The sweetness of the base with the smooth and subtly sweet cheesecake filling was such a perfect pairing. Thanks again!
We’re thrilled to hear it was a hit, Joanna, and thank you so much for making and sharing the recipe with others!
I saw this recipe and I thought I’d give it a test run before Thanksgiving. I liked it because it was so different than what we usually have for dessert. OMG it was a hit in my house. People are asking for it now. Lol thanks for sharing.
My family fought over the last piece this pie was so good. Definitely let it cool in the fridge overnight for best tasting results. Will make again for sure! Thanks for a great recipe ❤️
Just made it! But by mistake I forgot to measure out 1/2 t lemon juice after I squeezed half of a lemon into small bowl—do you think it’ll make a huge difference?
Hi Deb, don’t worry, it’s a very small amount and the pie will still be good!
We loved this recipe so much! I’ll be making it for Thanksgiving too.
I put 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon instead of all the spices listed. Also served with cool whip. Sooo good!!!
This pie was light, fluffy, and full of flavor! I am usually not a pumpkin dessert fan but I loved this. I skipped the cardamom as I did not have any, and I did not notice a lack of flavor. I can’t wait to make this again!
Can sweet potato be substituted for the pumpkin
Hi Helene, you can certainly try it! I’m sure it will work, I’m just uncertain of the texture.
The recipe was easy and the cheesecake pie is delicious! I made this today for dessert tonight, my husband is not a pumpkin anything fan and also loved it! I did omit the cardamom because I was out but I’m excited to add it when I make it again. I’m also excited to try it with salted caramel like the notes suggested.
Hi! this sounds delicious. Can I substitute sweet potatoes for the pumpkin?
Hi Natalie, you can certainly try it! I’m sure it will work, I’m just uncertain of the texture.
This sounds really delicious! I’m kind of lazy though, so if I wanted to use a pre-made graham cracker crust, would I need to pre-bake the crust? Or if I wanted to make mini versions with mini graham cracker crust shells, how long do you think I’d need to bake them for?
Hi Kathy, Pre-made graham cracker crusts are usually pre-baked, so you can skip the step where we partially blind bake the pie crust and continue from there. We’re unsure of the exact bake time for smaller shells—it will really depend on the size. Hope you enjoy this recipe!
And to think I’ve been eating Speculoos for years, and never knew they were the same thing as Biscoffs. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks! This looks like it might be THE best addition to the Xmas dessert list this year (we Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving over a month ago).
I do have a suggestion, though. I’m guessing it will take some work, but how about compiling all your great Pie Week recipes, by year, and listing them, for example, Pie Week 2016, up to 2022, with a click-on that takes you to the entire collection for that year? That way you could display links, for ALL the years as part of any new Pie recipe, much like Lord Byron does with his multitudinous collections of biscotti, and truffles, and cookies, and…
Thanks for all the great recipes! I appreciate all the hard work you and your team do, to provide them to us!
Hi Terry, thanks so much for your kind note and feedback! You can find all of our past Pie Week recipes on our Pie Week page. Hope this helps, and let us know when you give this pie and crust a try!
Ooh I love the sound of the biscoff base!!I’m sure you’ve heard before that we don’t have canned pumpkin puree in Australia. We tend to eat pumpkin in savoury dishes only. Any suggestions about how to use a fresh pumpkin for this recipe in place of the canned, other than maybe steaming it? Thanks!
Hi Bixie! Other readers have reported making fresh pumpkin puree this way: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pumpkin-puree-recipe-1922629
I found Libby’s pumpkin purée in coles fyi
This sounds like it may be a new favorite! Could you use muffin tins to make mini pies?
Hi Lindsay, I’m sure you could. The recipe is similar to these mini pumpkin cheesecakes, if you’d like to follow those instructions and use this recipe.
This worked perfectly! They got devoured at work and several people begged for the recipe. Thanks so much for another great bake!
For gluten free crust, a great substitute is Cinnamon Chex cereal combined/crushed with melted butter, additional cinnamon, a small amount of brown sugar and pecans. Delicious.
Thank you so much for sharing; this will be helpful for readers who wish to try this with a GF crust alternative.