This Viral Fall Cheesecake Takes Store-Bought Cookie Dough To New Heights

There's a new take on cheesecake circulating online, and it is an adorable way to put a seasonal twist on an already viral favorite. Introducing cookie pumpkin cheesecake, a festive dessert with a sugar cookie crust, pumpkin-flavored filling, and smiling Jack-O-Lantern cookies around the top edge. The pop of pumpkin color in the filling and actual pumpkins on top of the cheesecake make it the perfect dessert to bring to gatherings this season — and the concept is so customizable you will want to add it to your go-to list of cheesecake hacks that elevate the classic treat.

The viral video featuring the cookie pumpkin cheesecake was posted on Instagram by user @soyummy in September and since then, it's gathered about 1.4 million views. Remember when The Cheesecake Factory introduced a cookie dough cheesecake? The viral cookie pumpkin cheesecake uses the same idea. It is built in a springform pan, starting with a layer of pumpkin-stamped ready-to-bake cookies from Pillsbury. Each cookie is placed with the design facing upward, then they are smashed together with a bartender's muddler to make a uniform crust with spots of green and orange (the cookie dough will expand as it bakes). When it is done baking and cooled, add pumpkin cheesecake filling and chill while you bake the rest of the cookie dough up into cookies. When everything is chilled and cooled, top the cheesecake with Jack-O-Lantern cookies, placing each on a pillow of whipped cream to hold them in place.

The key to the cookie pumpkin cheesecake is Pillsbury Shape Pumpkin Sugar Cookie Dough. The Jack-O-Lantern image is baked into the cookies themselves, giving you a built-in design for the top of your cheesecake. Put a twist on the viral cheesecake by using any of the other sugar cookies in the Pillsbury Shape line, like basketball-stamped cookie dough for game night, reindeer or snowman stamped dough for the Christmas season, or go all-out with the viral fall cookie pumpkin cheesecake and use Pillsbury's multi-pack of Halloween shape cookies with cats, pumpkins, and ghosts already decorating each round of cookie dough.

You do not have to build your cheesecake from scratch to get the design effect of the cookie pumpkin cheesecake. You can pull off this seasonal dessert with just three ingredients, though it won't the exact same as the viral dessert. You'll need canned whipped cream, Pillsbury Shape Pumpkin Sugar Cookie Dough and a premade pumpkin cheesecake. Look for pumpkin cheesecake among the fall finds to keep an eye out for at Costco this year, and you will be able to pick all your ingredients up with the rest of your regular shopping.