Turtle Cheesecake Bars

 

Ingredients:
Crust:
3 cups finely chopped pecans (used food processor)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt

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

Toppings:
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 11 oz bag of caramel candy
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tbsp. milk divided

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Line 13×9 pan with parchment paper
3. In a bowl, mix crust ingredients together with a fork; press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan.
4. Bake crust for 20 min, while baking prepare filling.
5. Cream together cream cheese, yogurt or sour cream, sugar and vanilla.
6. Beat in eggs, one at a time
7. After crust bakes, remove from oven and immediately sprinkle on 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.
8. Pour filling over chocolate chips and return to oven; bake for 50 min
9. Allow cheesecake to cool for about 1 hour, then place in refrigerator to chill overnight.
10. Unwrap caramels and place in microwave safe bowl along with 4 tbsp. milk. Microwave in 30 second intervals until caramels have melted and sauce is smooth.
11. Pour caramel sauce over cheesecake and immediately sprinkle the chopped pecans. (You can also roast the pecans if you want….I didn’t and they still taste good).
12. Place chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl, along with 2 tbsp. of milk and microwave in 30 second intervals, about 2 min total. Stir until smooth and drizzle over caramel-pecan topping.
13. Allow chocolate to set before serving.

Note: I did not use all the caramel sauce. I thought it would be too sweet. I just drizzled it over the cheesecake until I thought there was enough. I also made them with a mini muffin tin to have individual sized bites but found it a lot of work. Next time I will just do it as squares.