• Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C and line a muffin pan with 9-11 cupcake paper liners.

To make the base:

• Crush up the gingersnap cookies and remeasure to make sure that it is 3/4 cup of cookie crumbs.
• Stir the cookie crumbs with the melted butter.
• Place 1.5 tbsp of the mixture into each cupcake liner, pressing down and up the sides slightly.
• Bake for 5 minutes and let the tray cool completely.

To make the filling:

• In a bowl, beat the cream cheese with the sugar until well-incorporated. Using room temperature cream cheese speeds up this process and prevents lumps.
• Add the cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and whisk once more.
• Add the egg and pumpkin puree and mix just to combine- over mixing will lead to more cracks.
• Fill the cupcake liners around 3/4 of the way full- you can fill them more if you have leftover batter.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes until the cheesecakes are puffy around the edges and the center is more or less set- a little jiggly is fine.
• The cheesecakes might crack slightly but do not worry because as they cool, they will sink slightly and the cracks will dissipate.
• Let the cheesecakes cool completely before peeling off the cupcake liners and then chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours.

To make the whipped cream:

• Beat together the cream and sugar until the cream thickens and forms stiff peaks. Careful not to over beat or you will end up with a curdled mixture. Note that chilled heavy cream is ideal for whipping- it will whip even faster if the bowl and whisk are chilled too.
• To serve, dollop the cheesecakes with a generous amount of whipped cream and sprinkle on some crushed gingersnaps as a garnish.