Turtle Cheesecake

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a food processor, pulse cookies to crumbs. (If you don’t have a food processor, I have also used 2 (nesting) metal bowls and mashed the wafers/cookies by putting them in the larger bowl a dozen at a time and crushing/grinding them with the smaller bowl. Or get your kids involved and have them whack away at them in sealed plastic baggies.) Combine cookie crumbs and butter in a medium bowl, and stir well.

Pour into a greased 9-inch springform pan. Use your fingers to evenly spread and mash down the crumbs.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Add in vanilla, flour and eggs one at a time. Beat well. Blend in the cream. Pour batter over the crust.

Bake for 12 minutes at 450 degrees, then lower the oven temperature to 200 degrees for an additional 35 minutes or until set.

Once removed from the oven, cool for 10 minutes, and then gently go around the side of the pan with a butter knife to loosen any parts sticking to the pan. Loosen pan gently and remove the rim. Cool and refrigerate. Cool for at least 2 hours before topping. Then refrigerate cheesecake for a minimum of 6 hours total prior to serving.

To top, melt chocolate in the microwave for 40-60 seconds depending on your microwave. (Start with 30 seconds. There’s nothing worse than burnt chocolate.) Stir until smooth.

Scrape chocolate into a small sealable plastic bag, snip off a bit of one corner and squeeze chocolate across the cake in any pattern you want.

In a small saucepan, heat the caramels and cream over medium heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat, let cool for a few minutes (melted caramel is hot!), then do the same as the chocolate and squeeze onto the cake. Lastly, sprinkle pecans over cake.