A few years ago I was looking for a Turtle cheesecake recipe for my sweet Bluebell.  She had asked me to make a cheesecake for Christmas Dinner, and I know that caramel and chocolate are two of her favorite things!

Whenever she buys a cheesecake slice it is always a Turtle cheesecake, so I began searching online for a yummy looking Turtle Cheesecake recipe.   I found this recipe on the BlogChef website and it has become a tradition that I make this cheesecake every year for Christmas dinner.

The kids are not huge cheesecake fans, and Bluebell doesn’t really like to share this cheesecake, so they have ice cream or chocolate pie instead.

I promise you this cheesecake is amazing!  I have tweaked the recipe a bit over the years, but it is my “go to” Turtle Cheesecake recipe.  I want to share it with you all!  If you love chocolate, caramel and cheesecake this is the one for you too.  Try it, you will love it!!

TURTLE CHEESECAKE
Ingredients:

¾ cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs  (crushed)  **I used chocolate teddy grahams, because I couldn’t find chocolate graham crackers.

½ cup melted butter (or margarine)

3 (8 oz) packages of softened cream cheese

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
 (I use the fat free kind)

½ cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

3 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

2 tablespoons caramel sundae syrup

½ cup pecans (chopped)

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
** I add 1/2 cup sour cream to give the cheesecake a more “New York” style.

** I also take some caramel candies and melt them with a little bit of heavy cream and then pour on top of the crust to form a caramel layer between the crust and the cheesecake.

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees and grease a 9 inch spring form pan. Combine Chocolate graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Press mixture onto the bottom and 1 inch up the side of the spring form pan.
Step 2: In a bowl beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until its smooth. Add sugar, lime juice, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat together until fully mixed.
Step 3: Microwave chocolate morsels in 10 second intervals until morsels are just melted. Stir 2 cups of cheesecake batter into the melted morsels.  Then spoon separate batters alternatively into the crust. Start with the batter without the morsels, then with the morsels, and end with the batter without the morsels.
Step 4: Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cheesecake is set (when the center moves just slightly). When cheesecake is done, cool completely. After the cheesecake is cooled top with chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, pecans, and chocolate morsels. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

Crust in pan:

melt caramels mixed with about 3 tbsp of heavy cream:

Pour melted caramel on top of crust:

Mix Cream cheese, milk, and sugar until smooth:

Mix in eggs, vanilla, lime juice and sour cream (Sour cream makes it more dense like a new york style cheesecake.  It is optional)

Mix together until smooth:

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler.  (I prefer this to the microwave…less chance of chocolate burning)

Mix melted chocolate in with two cups of batter.  You will end up with some chocolate and some white batter:

Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.  The cheesecake will be slightly jiggly in the center.  That is okay.  Once it is out of the oven, decorate with caramel and chocolate syrup. I also put some mini chocolate chips on top.  And pecans if desired.

Then slice and enjoy!!