Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

I know that pumpkin baking season has been over now for a couple of weeks, but I have not reached my pumpkin limit yet!  It also doesn't help that Alex has been NAGGING me forever to make him pumpkin cheesecake.  Why he didn't think that he could do it himself is beyond me, but I finally broke down and decided to make him his stinking cheesecake.  And I'm glad that I did.  However, I made him help me out :).  I figured that this was a great way to use up all of the pumpkin puree that I aimlessly made, but I ended up using a can of Libby's since it was already at room temperature.  I decided to make the cheesecake into single size servings by baking them in a muffin tin.  Each serving size is approximately 3 tablespoons worth of awesomeness, and one more bite would probably make my stomach explode since they are so filling.  They are SO good that I downed an entire serving right when I took them out of the stove, mmmm hot cheese.  Recipe from Tracey's Culinary Adventures. Rating 9/10.

 Ingredients

• 2 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar (I used turbinado)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoons salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 1/4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Beat the cream cheese in a stand mixer on a medium setting until it is fluffy, about 4-5 minutes
Combine the sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a separate bowl and then combine with the cream cheese.
Add in the eggs one at a time.  Do NOT OVER MIX.  Mix until thoroughly combined, and then turn your mixer off!
In a separate bowl combine 2/3 cup of the cream cheese batter with the pumpkin, flour, and spices.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Line a muffin tin with paper liners.  I only needed ten.
Fill each muffin liner with 2 tbsp of regular cream cheese batter.  Add 1 tbsp of pumpkin cream cheese batter on top, and use a knife to make swirls between the layers.
Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until the center of the cheesecake is settled.
Remove from oven and let cool.
Once cooled, place in the fridge and try to resist eating one for up to six hours.  I made it to one hour, not including the hot cheesecake that I slurped down.

I was able to make ten