Frozen Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Twist

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.
2. Melt butter. Stir in chocolate wafer crumbs and mix till well blended. Press into a 9-inch/23 cm spring form pan.
3. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool before filling.
4. In a large bowl beat the cream cheese until soft. Add half the sugar (¼ cup/ 50 ml) and beat till smooth.
5. Separate the yolks from the whites and add the yolks to the cream cheese mixture one yolk at a time. Beat well.
6. Stir in the pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
7. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, gradually beat in the rest of the granulated sugar (¼ cup/50 ml) until stiff peaks form, set aside.
8. In a small bowl whip the cream.
9. Using a wire whisk fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin/cream cheese mixture until well blended.
10. Add the beaten egg whites and fold using the wire whisk until there are no white specks.
11. Pour the mixture into the prepared spring form pan. Cover with plastic wrap.
12. Freeze for at least 4 hours or up to 1 week in advance.
13. One hour before serving remove the cheesecake from the freezer and remove the collar of the spring form pan. Let the cheesecake sit at room temperature till serving time.
14. Ten minutes before serving make the ganache. Heat the whipping cream and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat. When the chocolate has just melted remove from heat and stir till smooth. Set aside.
15. To serve, cut the cheesecake into 10-12 slices, place each slice on a dessert plate, drizzle approximately 1 ½ tablespoons/20 ml of the ganache on top of each slice.

Serves: 10-12