Diane’s Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake

Nov 28, 2011 by Gina Mueller

I am 5 years younger than my sister and in order to be more like her I convinced myself I did not like cheesecake. The same with red meat, refried beans, jello, and cheese burgeres. I was so brainwashed by her big sister powers that it was not until this year that I found out how much I love cheesecake! It was this particular chocolate turtle cheesecake that won over my heart. The recipe comes from a good family friends grandmother that is the master of all cheesecakes. She recently came out with a cook book Made with Love, By Diane which I unfortunately cannot find online. It must just be sold to family and friends for now, as soon as it is ‘google-able’ I will share it with you.

Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake

Made with Love by Diane

Crust

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 Tbls. sugar
6 Tbls. melted butter

Filling

1 (14 oz) package caramels
1 (5 oz) can Carnation evaporated milk
1 cup chopped toasted pecans
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs (room temperature)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Place graham crackers into a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crumble.

Melt butter in pie pan, add sugar.

Mix in graham cracker crumbs and flatten with a spoon. Make sure to spread the graham cracker up to the rip of the pie pan to prevent carmel from touching the pan.

Bake pie crust at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature

Mix evaporated milk and carmel in a small saucepan at medium heat, stirring frequently. After liquified let carmel cool to room temperature.

Pour melted carmel over crust and spread with a spatula.

Chop and toast pecans.

Scatter toasted pecans over carmel. Save some for decoration toppings.

Beat together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until creamy smooth.

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each.

Melt chocolate.

Blend in melted chocolate.

Pour over pecan layer starting at the outside and working your way to the center.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To prevent cracks place a pie pan filled with water on the bottom rack. Bake cheesecake in the oven for 40 minutes. Do not open the oven until after the 30 minutes. It is very important for the heat in the oven to be even while cooking the cheesecake.