Turtle Cheesecake

This cheesecake was a major hit at Thanksgiving this year! I adapted this recipe from the Barefeet in the Kitchen blog. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 24 chocolate sandwich cookies (about 1 cup finely crushed, gluten free cookies work fine)
• 5 tablespoons butter melted
• 3/4 cup caramel sauce (I did not measure this, and just used a drizzle-y caramel sauce from the store)
• 3 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips melted
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans toasted if desired

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees (this can wait until you put the crust in the refrigerator, unless your oven needs more than 15 minutes to pre-heat). 
• Crush the oreo cookies - I love using a food processor to do this! You can also put it in a large freezer-weight ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin or something else hard enough). 
• Combine the crumbs with the melted butter and press the mixture into the bottom of an 8-10" springform pan. Pour 1/2 cup of the caramel sauce over this crust and spread it out lightly with a spatula. Refrigerate the caramel coated crust for 10 minutes.
• Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed just until each one is blended. 
• Pour this mixture over the refrigerated crust. Place the spring-form pan on a large baking sheet prior to placing it in the oven. (If you line the baking sheet with foil first, clean up will be a breeze.) Some of the caramel in the crust will drip through the pan onto your oven if you forget the baking sheet - this is very important.
• Bake 65 - 70 minutes, until the center is almost set. Run a knife around the edges of the pan while it is still warm. Let cool at room temperature and then refrigerate 4 hours or overnight before removing the sides of the pan.
• Once the sides of the pan have been removed, sprinkle the pecans across the top of the cheesecake and then drizzle with the remaining caramel and the melted chocolate. Store remaining cheesecake in the refrigerator. 

Mini Turtle Cheesecakes

This was a fan favorite at one of the Christmas celebrations. It came from the fakeginger blog. They are tasty, and they don't feel as "bad for you" because they're so tiny!

Ingredients

For the crust:

• ¾ cup ground chocolate cookie crumbs
• ⅓ cup pecan meal
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

• 1½ packages (12 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup plain yogurt

For the caramel drizzle:

• ¼ cup butter
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the chocolate drizzle:

• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter
• pecans, for topping

 
Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line a 12-muffin pan with aluminum liners and spray lightly with oil.
2. To make crust: Combine chocolate cookie crumbs, pecan meal, brown sugar, and melted butter. Spoon a tablespoon into bottom of each muffin liner and press lightly with your fingers. Bake for 5 minutes; remove from oven.
3. To make filling: Beat cream cheese in a large mixing bowl until creamy. With mixer running, gradually add sugar, salt, and vanilla; beat well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing just until blended. Stir in yogurt.
4. Spoon about ¼ cup of filling into each muffin liner. It should come almost to the top of the liner. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops of cheesecakes are puffed and only slightly jiggly in the very center. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least a couple hours, preferably overnight.
5. To make caramel drizzle, combine ¼ cup of butter, brown sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Stir in cream. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool.
6. To make chocolate drizzle, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate chips, remove from heat and stir until melted.
7. To assemble, carefully remove liners from cooled cheesecakes and put cheesecakes on wax paper. Place a pecan in the center of each cheesecake. Drizzle chocolate and caramel over tops. Keep refrigerated until serving.

I made them in mini muffin pans, so they're smaller than what I'm assuming this was calling for... I also didn't make the caramel and chocolate sauces - I just bought jars... for simplicity. Still yummy. :) and pretty. Next time I make them, I'll take a picture to show you! 

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake

 {Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cookbook}
Makes 10-12 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups gingersnap crumbs (I used gluten free cookies to accommodate my gluten free almost-sister-in-law)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/3 cup margarine, melted
*     *     *
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese (I used fat free)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions:
Combine crumbs, pecans and margarine; press onto bottom and 1 1/2 inches up sides of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees, 10 minutes.

Combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reserve 1 cup batter. Add remaining sugar, pumpkin and spices to remaining batter; mix well. Alternately layer pumpkin and cream cheese batters over crust. Cut through batters with knife several times for marble effect. Bake at 350 degrees, 55 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Chill.

Some of the main ingredients

For the crust

The two batters

First you add the pumpkin

Then the plain (then a little more pumpkin)

Swirl

And you're ready to bake

The finished product

I can't figure out how to make the tops of these yummy cheesecakes not to crack on top, but it doesn't change the taste. It was delicious. Like pumpkin pie in a cheesecake (shocking, right?). It was definitely a hit with all who tasted it!

Gluten Free: You can make this gluten free by using gf ginger snaps. Everything else in the recipe is already ready to go.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Supreme

{Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cookbook}
Servings: 10-12

Ingredients:
1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs
3 tablespoons margarine, melted
*     *     *
3 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate pieces

Instructions:
Combine crumbs and margarine; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees, 10 minutes.

Combine cream cheese, sugar and flour, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blen in sour cream and vanilla. Stir in chocolate pieces; pour over crust. Bake at 325 degrees, 55 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Chill. Garnish with whipped cream and fresh mint, if desired.

not the best picture, but you get the idea

Brownie Swirl Cheesecake

This is one of my favorite things to bake... so, here it is for you! It comes from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese cookbook. To save myself some time today, I have taken a picture of the recipe from the book. I'm not sure if you'll be able to read it or not, so I'll try to add the recipe here later :) For now, here are the pictures!

{Recipe from Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cookbook}
Servings: 10-12


Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package brownie mix
* * *
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup milk chocolate pieces, melted

Instructions:
Grease bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Prepare basic brownie mix as directed on package; pour batter evenly into springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees, 15 minutes.

Combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Pour over brownie layer. Spoon chocolate over cream cheese mixture; cut through batter with knife several times for marble effect. Bake at 350 degrees, 35 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Chill. Garnish with whipped cream, if desired.

The ingredients

The mixing

The pouring

The swirling

The cheesecake