Turtle Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 24 Oreo cookies, finely crushed
• 6 tbl. butter or margarine, melted
• 1 -14 oz. pkg. caramels
• 1/2 cu. milk
• 1 cu. chopped pecans
• 3- 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cu. sugar
• 1 tbl. vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Mix crumbs and butter; press onto bottom and 2 inches up side of 9-inch springform pan.
3. 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.
4. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over caramel layer in crust.
5. 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.
6. Microwave reserved caramel mixture 1 minutes, stir. Pour over cheesecake. Melt chocolate as directed on package; drizzle over cheesecake.