Speculaas and pumpkin cheesecake

Oh, the wonderful things we can do with speculaas! This cheesecake was an instant hit in my family, and because it has pumpkin, I'm classing it as healthy. Just the way I roll!

Ingredients:

400 g pumpkin pieces (or use 1⅔ cup puree and skip step 1)
125 g / ½ cup unsalted butter
260 g speculaas (I don't know how much that would be in cups. It's about 22 spiced biscuits 🤷)
1 tbsp water
600 g / 2⅔ cup cream cheese
100 g / ½ cup caster sugar
3 medium eggs

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 355°F. Roast the pumpkin on some parchment paper for around 20 minutes in the middle of the oven.
2. Reduce the heat to 160°C / 320°F. Place a bowl of water at the bottom of the oven.
3. Blitz the biscuits with the water in a food processor until they're a fine pulp.
4. Melt the butter and mix it with the biscuit crumbs.
5. Cover a cake mould with parchment paper and press the biscuit mix into it.
6. Puree the pumpkin with a blender or food processor, and mix in the cream cheese, sugar, and a pinch of salt.
7. Add the eggs one by one and whip the mixture until fluffy.
8. Pour the pumpkin mixture on top of the biscuit base and bake for about an hour.
9. Leave the cheesecake in the oven and keep the door ajar while the oven cools.
10. After an hour, transfer to the fridge and leave to chill for another 4 hours.
11. Attack!