Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake

My mom absolutely loves cheesecake and those chocolate turtle candies, so one year for her birthday I found this recipe online. I was probably 14 years old. I planned ahead and bought all the ingredients myself. Then I had my aunt suggest that we all go for a walk on her birthday afternoon. After a while my grandma said she was tired so I offered to go home with her. We made the cheesecake together while they were out and surprised her. Since then I have made this cheesecake for my moms birthday many times and she always loves it.

• Ready In: 1 hr 40 mins
• Serves: 12
• Yields: 1 cheesecake

Ingredients

• 2  cups graham crackers
• 1⁄3 cup sugar
• 1⁄4 cup butter or 1⁄4 cup margarine, melted
• 1 (14 ounce) bag  caramels
• 1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1  cup  chopped pecans, toasted
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3  eggs
• 1  cup  semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Crush grahm crackers and mix with 1/3 cup sugar and the butter. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.
3. Bake for 10 minutes.
4. Melt caramels with evap. milk in double boiler pan until smooth. (if you dont have a double boiler you can use a small pan for the caramels set in a larger pot of boiling water.).
5. Pour into crust and top with pecans.
6. Combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and mix until smooth.
7. Add eggs and blend well.
8. Mix in melted chocolate.
9. Pour over pecans and caramel.
10. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.
11. Wait 5 to 10 minutes, loosen spring pan, cool and chill.