This year, I was put in charge of my parents’ Thanksgiving menu with the guideline that the food must be traditional fare with a little punch. Since my tiny Bushwick apartment is completely unequipped for turkey experimentation or having more than 1 pot on the stove at a time, I decided to begin playing with the dessert portion of the meal. A pumpkin something is always great, and everyone loves chocolate, so I put the two together and gave mini pumpkin-chocolate cheesecake a try. As usual, everything was purchased at my local Food Dimensions.

For the crust:
20 chocolate graham crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the graham crackers in a plastic bag and smash until finely ground. Pour into a bowl, adding sugar & melted butter. Stir until moistened. Line a cupcake tin w/ foil wrappers and place a heaping spoonful of the cookie mixture into the bottom of each cup. Press gently into the bottom and then bake until slightly firm (about 10 minutes).

For the filling:
2 packages cream cheese (8 ounces total)
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
3 eggs
3 tablespoons flour
1 tsp. pumpkin spice (they didn’t have this at the supermarket, so I made my own mixing ground nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves and cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, pumpkin, eggs, flour, spices & salt until combined. Melt chocolate (either in 30 second intervals in the microwave or over a double boiler) and add 1 cup of the pumpkin mixture, stirring to combine. Pour scoops of the pumpkin mixture into each cup. Spoon a dollop of the chocolate mixture on top and swirl with a pairing knife or toothpick. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cheesecake is set but jiggles slightly. Cool in pan and then refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.