Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

Crust:

2 cups finely crushed ginger snap cookies
½ cup finely chopped pecans
6 tablespoons butter or margarine melted


Filling:

24 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 dash ground cloves


Crust:

Mix ginger snap crumbs, pecans and butter; press onto bottom and 2" up side of a 9" springform pan.


Filling:

Beat cream cheese, ¾ cup sugar and vanilla with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Reserve 1½ cups of the plain batter.
Stir remaining ¼ cup sugar, pumpkin and spices into remaining batter. Spoon ½ of the pumpkin batter over crust; top with spoonfuls of ½ of the reserved plain batter. Repeat layers. Cut through batters with knife several times for marble effect.
Bake at 325º for 55 minutes or until center is almost set if using a silver springform pan. (Or, bake at 300º for 55 minutes if using a dark nonstick springform pan). Loosen cake from side of pan; cool before removing side of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.