Pumpkin & dark chocolate cheesecake

A Spooktacular way to use up your pumpkin 🎃

SERVES: 12   TIME: 2H 40 MINS   

INGREDIENTS: 

• 80g Co-op unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
• 500g pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1cm chunks (prepared weight)
• 2 x 200g packs Co-op Irresistible chocolate chip cookies, broken into chunks
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 750g Co-op soft cheese
• 200g Fairtrade caster sugar
• 6 large Love Local eggs, lightly beaten
• 40g Co-op Irresistible Fairtrade 70% cocoa dark chocolate, roughly chopped

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6. Grease, then line the sides and base of a 23cm springform tin
2. Put the pumpkin on a lined baking tray, sprinkle with water and cover tightly with foil. Bake in the oven for 45-50 mins, until very soft. Drain off any liquid, then whizz with a hand blender until smooth. Leave to cool completely. Reduce the oven temperature to 170°C/fan 150°C/gas 3
3. Meanwhile, whizz the cookies and 1 tsp of the cinnamon into fine crumbs
4. Mix in the melted butter, tip into the lined tin and press into an even layer with the back of a spoon. Chill in the fridge
5. Once the pumpkin purée has cooled, weigh out 400g, draining off any water that has risen to the top, then combine with the soft cheese, sugar, egg and remaining cinnamon. Reserve 100g of the mixture, then pour the rest over the chilled cheesecake base and level off
6. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, then mix with the remaining 100g pumpkin batter. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a 2mm circular nozzle
7. Starting in the middle, pipe concentric circles on top of the cheesecake, spaced 1-2cm apart. Next, working from the middle to the outside edge, use a cocktail stick to bleed the lines together every 2-3cm to create a cobweb pattern
8. Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour 30 mins — it should have a gentle wobble in the centre. Turn the oven off but leave the cheesecake inside, with the door ajar, to cool fully, then chill overnight before serving