For the Streusel

• Add the butter, brown sugar, flour, pumpkin pie spice and salt to a medium bowl.
  6 tbsp (84 g) unsalted butter, softened,3/4 cup (165 g) brown sugar, packed,3/4 cup (94 g) all purpose flour, spooned and leveled,2 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice,pinch of salt
• Mix everything together until you have thick, coarse crumbs. Pop the streusel in the fridge while working on the rest of the cheesecake.

For the Spiced Brown Sugar Filling

• Add the brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice to a small bowl. Whisk to combine, then set aside.
  1/2 cup (110 g) brown sugar, packed,1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

For the Biscoff Crust

• Preheat the oven to 350° F (175° C).
• Prepare your 9-inch springform pan for its later water bath by wrapping the bottom and sides with a decent amount of tinfoil. You want to make sure the tinfoil goes up about two inches on the sides of the pan so no water seeps into the pan as it bakes. I always use too much (around 8 layers) just so I know it’ll be okay.

  (I have also tried a new method recently- If you have a 10-inch cake pan that your springform pan can fit inside of, you can use this instead of wrapping the bottom with tinfoil. The 10 inch pan will sit inside of the large roasting pan and the cheesecake pan will sit inside of the 10 inch pan. The hot water will go in the roasting pan around the 10 inch pan leaving the cheesecake pan untouched by water! I hope this makes sense, like a box within a box within a box.)

• Pulse the Biscoff cookies together in a food processor until they are finely ground.
  46 Biscoff Cookies
• Then add in the melted butter and sugar and pulse until combined.
  10 tbsp (140 g) unsalted butter, melted,2 tbsp (25 g) granulated white sugar
• Press the Biscoff cookie crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of the pan, about 1 inch. (A ¼ measuring cup really helps with this step).
• Bake the crust for 15 minutes and then let it cool completely while working on the cheesecake batter.

For the Pumpkin Cheesecake

• Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C) if not still preheated.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the cream cheese, sugar and cornstarch together with a paddle attachment for two minutes on medium speed until everything is smooth and there are no lumps. (You can alternatively use a hand mixer). Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything has been mixed well.
  32 oz (907 g) cream cheese, softened,1 1/4 cups (250 g) granulated white sugar,1/4 cup (32 g) cornstarch
• Add in the pumpkin puree, sour cream, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla. Mix for 1 minute on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl again.
  1 cup (244 g) canned pumpkin puree,1/3 cup (82 g) sour cream, at room temperature,1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice,1 tbsp vanilla extract
• At this point, stop and put a pot of water on the stove to start boiling. You will want enough water to go about 1 ½ inches up the sides of the springform pan.
• Next add in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time to the cheesecake batter. Mix on low speed, ensuring that each is fully mixed in before adding the next. As soon as the last one is fully mixed in, turn off the mixer. Do not over mix the batter.
  3 whole eggs, at room temperature,2 egg yolks, at room temperature
• Pour the half the batter into the prepared pan with the crust, then use an offset spatula to smooth it out into an even layer. Sprinkle the spiced brown sugar over the batter in an even layer. Then pour the remaining cheesecake batter on top, smoothing it out with an offset spatula. Sprinkle the chilled streusel over the top. The pan will be full, but that is okay!
• Place the cheesecake in a large roasting pan in the oven. Slowly pour the boiling water into the pan around the cheesecake being careful not to splash the cheesecake.

  (If you’re using the 10-inch pan method, place the cheesecake in the 10-inch pan, then place the 10-inch pan in the large roasting pan. Pour water around the 10-inch pan.)

• Bake at 350° F (175° C) for 1 hour and 30 minutes. (If you see the streusel getting too browned towards the end of the 1.5 hours, loosely cover with aluminum foil.)

  When 1.5 hours are up, turn the oven off and crack the oven door open using a wooden utensil. Let the cheesecake stay in the oven for 1 more hour. The cheesecake will continue to bake as it is cooling.

• Once the 2 hours and 30 minutes are up, remove the cheesecake from the oven and carefully go around the edges of the pan with a butter knife to loosen the crust from the sides of the pan. Let the cheesecake cool completely on the counter, and then refrigerate until completely cold, 8 hours or overnight.