Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake

I love Cheesecake, and since I'm from Philadelphia, I usually use Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Did you know the Italian word for cream cheese is Philadelphia? Really! I saw it on the Cake Boss in the episode where Buddy visits Sicily with his family. He taught some bakers to make New York style cheesecake, and since they don't usually use cream cheese in their baking, they brought out Philadelphia brand cream cheese for the cheesecake. They really do call cream cheese Philadelphia. Talk about branding!

I've posted several cheesecake recipes, but as I've mentioned, it's great to go to food product websites for new recipes. This really decadent Cheesecake recipe for Ultimate Turtle Cheesecake is adapted from the Kraft website. This recipe kept popping up in my sidebar on Facebook, so I finally broke down and made it. You'll love it. You can, of course, substitute other cream cheese, caramels, nuts, chocolate and cookies, but try the Kraft products on your test run. Yum!!

ULTIMATE TURTLE CHEESECAKE

24 Oreo Cookies, finely crushed (about 2 cups)
6 Tbsp. sweet butter, 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

Directions
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.

Photo: Kraft