Turtle Cheesecake Bars

Start this the day before, it needs to set overnight in the refrigerator. If you want to make a smaller pan, say 8x8 use 1/2 the recipe, see note below for the odd measurements.

TURTLE CHEESECAKE BARS

Crust
3 cups finely chopped pecans
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cheesecake Filling
24 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup full-fat Greek yogurt or sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 large eggs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Toppings
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
1 11-oz bag caramel candy, unwrapped
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons milk, divided


Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Line a 13x9 pan with parchment paper, so that parchment extends over long side of pan.

In a bowl, mix crust ingredients together with a fork; press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan. 

Bake crust for 20 minutes; while crust bakes, prepare filling.

Cream together cream cheese, yogurt or sour cream, sugar and vanilla.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.

After crust bakes, remove from oven and immediately sprinkle on 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips over crust.

Pour filling over chocolate chips and return to oven; bake for 50 minutes.

Allow cheesecake to cool for about hour, then place in refrigerator overnight.

When ready to serve, remove cheesecake from pan using parchment paper and place on serving platter, then prepare toppings:

Toast pecans in oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Unwrap caramels and place in a microwave safe bowl, along with 4 tablespoons milk.

Microwave in 30 second intervals until caramels have melted and sauce is smooth.

Pour caramel sauce over cheesecake and immediately sprinkle on toasted and chopped pecans.

Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, along with 2 tablespoons milk, and microwave in 30 second intervals, about 2 minutes total until melted. Watch this close, you don't want to burn it.

Stir until smooth and drizzle over caramel-pecan topping.

Allow chocolate to set before serving.

NOTE:

If you want to make a smaller batch, use 1/2 the recipe in an 8x8 pan.  Here is some help on those odd 1/2 measurements --- 3 Tbs. sugar for crust, 1/3 cup + 1 Tbs. sugar and 2 Eggs for filling.