Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

FILLING
4 pk (8 oz) cream cheese; room
-temp
1 1/4 c Sugar
1/2 ts Ground cinnamon
1/4 ts Ground ginger
1 cn (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin
3 lg Eggs
1 tb Vanilla extract

I am not a big baker as I have a husband who is rather talented in that
field. But my family all wanted very traditional Thanksgiving dishes (No
chiles in anything Chris!) and my culinary fingers were itching, so I
tackled desserts. This cheesecake recipe came from the Nov 97 Bon Appetit
and was excellent! Thought someone might need a Christmas dessert idea…
See my notes at the end.

For Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Blend first 3 ingredients in
processor until nuts are finely chopped. Add butter; process until moist
crumbs form. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9 inch diameter
springform pan with 2 3/4 inch high sides. Bake until lightly toasted,
about 10 minutes. Cool. Wrap outside of pan with double thickness of
heavy-duty foil.

For Filling: Using electric mixer, beat first 4 ingredients in large bowl
until smooth. Add pumpkin; beat until blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat
until smooth. Transfer to crust. Set in roasting pan. Pour enough hot water
into roasting pan to come 1 inch up sides of springform pan. Bake cake
until top is golden and begins to crack and center is set, about 1 hour and
45 minutes. Remove from roasting pan. Cool. Chill overnight. (Can be made 2
days ahead. Cover; keep chilled.)
My notes: I chopped the crust ingredients by hand with no problems. I used
Neufchatel cheese (low fat cream cheese) with no problems. As usual for me,
my hand with the spices is heavy. I like the flavors so I added a tad
extra.