Friday, September 10, 2010

TURTLE CHEESECAKE?! WHY YES.



I currently find myself in San Francisco with a brand new gorgeous little niece and my whole immediate family in the same place for the first time in.. 2 years?! 1 year? Something like that. shocking. Anyway, my sister and the mother of the aforementioned babe requested that I make a cheesecake that somehow involved chocolate, caramel, and nuts. To me all this can mean is turtle. So I went for it. My 2 year old nephew Gideon (of the same sister) helped me with the mixer right up until I caught him eating an entire handful of the batter. A compliment yes, but also adorable. He also spent the remainder of the night with us in the kitchen dancing to Beyonce and Michael Jackson. I love this kid. And here are tons of pictures of him, since I can't help but show off.




his other aunts and I bought him a suit and took him out on a dinner date.


me and gid at the beach





Our little noob, baby Rue.


Moving right along on this here overindulgent sweets train I appear to be on, I found this one on The Girl Who Ate Everything.

I had a couple of challenges as my sister doesn't bake much and therefore doesn't care about things like springform pans and juicers. It actually was kind of fun to try to find creative ways to get the job done. And despite it all, the cheesecake turned out completely awesome and ridiculously rich. I would certainly recommend this one. Just try not to eat two peices like I did. Tempting though it may be, you WILL feel like you want to die. (An extra little note: my mom just ate some ice cream and said "after kaysie's cheesecake everything else just tastes boring." BAM!)

So. Without further rambling:
Recipe Soundtrack: Single Ladies. I had to do it.


TURTLE CHEESECAKE Adapted
From
The Girl Who Ate Everything







Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups ground oreos (I did this in a blender and it worked like gangbusters.)
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Caramel syrup (I used homemade but store-bought would work just fine)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate mini morsels




Method:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease 9-inch springform pan. (For lack of better options, I used a square pyrex pan.)

Combine crumbs and butter in medium bowl. Press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of prepared pan.

Beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk in large mixer bowl until smooth. Add sugar, eggs, lime juice and vanilla extract; beat until combined.

Remove 1 cup of filling and set aside. Melt chocolate chips about 1 minute, (just until melted) and mix completely into the 1-cup reserved filling.


Pour 1/2 of the white filling into crust, then the chocolate filling, then the last 1/2 of the white. Take knife and gently swirl.

Bake for 1 hour 10 to 15 minutes or until edge is set and center moves slightly. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; run knife around edge of cheesecake. Cool completely. Drizzle caramel syrup over cheesecake. Sprinkle with pecans and mini morsels. (we just drizzled melted chocolate chips and caramel on top with chopped pecans. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Remove side of pan.






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