The Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake: recipe

There isn't a dessert that I like better than cheesecake and if it had fewer calories, I would love it even more. Last weekend I was searching for a special dessert to make for my mom in celebration of Mother's Day and I came across a recipe for the Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake. Ultimate turtle cheesecake? I was going to make that. And even though my crust didn't look as beautiful as the crust on the picture; my family said that it was a cheesecake worthy enough to be on the Cheesecake Factory menu. I'll take that as a compliment.

For all of you cheesecake lovers out there--this recipe is for you.

Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake

Ingredients:

24 OREO Cookies,
finely crushed (about 2 cups)
6 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1 pkg. (14 oz.) KRAFT Caramels
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped PLANTERS Pecans
3 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
3 eggs
2 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Preparations:

HEAT oven to 325°F.

MIX crumbs and butter; press onto bottom and 2 inches up side of 9-inch springform pan.

MICROWAVE caramels and milk in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH 3 min. or until caramels are completely melted, stirring after each minute. Stir in nuts; pour half into crust. Refrigerate 10 min. Refrigerate remaining caramel mixture for later use.

BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over caramel layer in crust.

BAKE 1 hour 5 min. to 1 hour 10 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours.

MICROWAVE reserved caramel mixture 1 min.; stir. Pour over cheesecake. Melt chocolate as directed on package; drizzle over cheesecake.

Note: This is a Kraft Foods recipe and therefore calls for Kraft brand products but I used some different brands and it worked perfectly well.

The finished product!