Turtle Cheesecake

I made this for my Hubby's birthday and it turned out rich and DELICIOUS!  I was looking for a cheesecake that was different that I hadn't tried before.  It was very rich.  I found it on allrecipes.com here.  I made some changes, so I'll make note of them below.  If you're looking for something for a special occasion this is perfect. 

TURTLE CHEESECAKE

 

Ingredients:

2 cups vanilla wafers crumbs (I used oreos, about 20 in a food processor worked) 

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (I think this was a little too much for oreos, so I would cut it down by a couple of Tablespoons next time) 

14 ounces individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped (I used Hershey's Caramel Topping) 

1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk

1 cup chopped pecans

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips)  


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter one 9 inch springform pan. 

Toast the pecans at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 6 minutes. Remove pecans and set aside. Leave oven at 350 degrees C (175 degrees C). In a small saucepan, melt the unsalted butter. 

Combine vanilla wafer crumbs (or oreos) with the melted butter then press into the bottom of the prepared springform pan. Place the pan onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove and allow to cool. 

In a double boiler, or a bowl set over barely simmering water, melt the caramels in the evaporated milk. (** see note) Stir until smooth. Pour this over the cooled crust. Sprinkle the nuts over the top. 

In a bowl, combine the cheese, sugar, and vanilla and beat until smooth, scraping down the bowl several times. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until smooth. Melt the chocolate chips in the double boiler and mix into the cheese mixture (Instead of mixing the chocolate in, I poured it over the top of the cheesecake mixture and swirled it in with a toothpick making designs.) Pour the batter over the caramel layer. 

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 minutes or until barely set. (This took a lot longer on mine.  Just keep an eye on it.)  Chill over night in the refrigerator before serving. 

**if you use caramel ice cream topping, do not add in evaporated milk, unless you want it to turn out different.  I added the evaporated milk and the layer of caramel wasn’t really a layer at all and just came up around the cheesecake mixture.  It wasn’t bad, just messier.  Next time I will probably go with melting caramels.

 

ENJOY!