Recipe: Turtle Cheesecake

 For the Crust

1 1/2 (about 1.5 C) packs of graham crackers (crushed)
1/3 C Margarine (melted)

For Cheesecake
3-8 oz pkgs Cream Cheese (room temp)
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 C Sugar
3 Eggs
3 Tbls Lemon Juice
1 Tbl Vanilla
3/4 cup Chocolate Chips
1/4 C Sugar
1 tsp Cornstarch

For Topping
1/4 C. mini chocolate chips
1/2 C. caramel sauce
1/2 C. hot fudge sauce
1/4 C. chopped cashews (or your favorite nut)

(if you want it to be good you MUST wait for the cream cheese and eggs to come to room temp. don’t bother using light or fake cream cheese unless you have high quality artisan cream cheese use Philadelphia cream cheese the taste is worth the extra fat, cost, and time)

• Break up the graham crackers (I like to stick them in a ziplock and mush).
• Melt the butter and mix with the graham cracker crumbs. Press them into a springform pan.
• Beat the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth.
• Add sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice until well combined.
• Add eggs one by one until combined.
• Remove 1 cup of mixture and set aside. 
• Melt chocolate chips until almost melted (be careful not to burn it). Do it 10-20 seconds at a time
• Mix the melted chocolate and cup of mixture
• Pour half of remaining cheesecake mixture into springform pan.
• Add chocolate mixture and top with remaining cheesecake mixture.
• Swirl with a knife being careful not to touch the bottom crust.
• Bake in at 300F with steam for 1 hour and 15 minutes (until outside is set but inside is still jiggly). Heat a dish while preheating the oven and pour hot water in the dish when you stick the cheesecake in.
• Let cool in the oven with door closed for at least 2 hours 
• Refrigerate for at least 4 hours I think overnight is best, the texture and taste are much better when it’s colder 
• Right before serving top with caramel, chocolate sauce, mini chips and nuts.
• Cut with a knife rinsed with hot water between each slice

Take it to a party, have everyone ooh and ahh and make new friends. Let me know if you try it out!