Cheesecake Challenge #9: Turtle Cheesecake

For a nice family event this summer, I made this Turtle Cheesecake. It was a fairly straightforward recipe. I have to say, I thought it was pretty good, but nothing stellar. The reviews from my tasters, though (family), was that it was excellent. So even if it's not my favorite recipe, it's a hit. And don't get me wrong, it was yummy!

I didn't take a picture, of course. I need to work on that. So I'm just going to reference the original, which it strongly resembled:

From The Girl Who Ate Everything

I'd probably rate this a 4-star, but with all the rave reviews I got with it, I'm bumping it up half a star.

I made a few changes; I used my personal fudge sauce recipe instead of cheap Hershey's syrup (yuck!) and I didn't have lime juice so I went with lemon. And here is the recipe:


Turtle Cheesecake
from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups Chocolate graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup Melted, unsalted Butter
24 oz. Cream Cheese, room temperature
14 oz. Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup Sugar
3 large Eggs
3 Tbsp. Lime Juice
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
3/4 cup Chocolate Chips
2 Tbsp. Chocolate Syrup or Fudge Sauce
2 Tbsp. Caramel Syrup or Ice Cream Topping
1/2 cup Chopped Pecans
1/4 cup Mini Chocolate Chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300. Mix together crumbs and butter and press into a 9" spring-form pan.
2. Combine cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk, beating until blended. Add sugar, eggs, lime juice, and vanilla. Beat until combined.
3. Set 1 cup of filling aside. Melt chocolate chips and mix into 1 cup of reserved filling.
4. Pour half of the white filling into the crust, then the chocolate, then the last half of the white. Take a knife and gently swirl.
5. Bake 70-75 minutes or until almost done. Turn off the oven and leave resting. When cooled completely, drizzle with chocolate and caramel, then sprinkle with pecans and mini-chocolate chips. Refrigerate overnight before serving.