Homemade Brownie Turtle Cheesecake

This Instructable will show you how to make a Homemade Brownie Turtle Cheesecake. This cheesecake uses a brownie in place of a typical crust. It is decorated with homemade caramel sauce and pecans with a fun turtle design to complement the "turtle" flavors.

Warning: This Instructable uses a stove and oven, which could potentially burn you. Exercise caution when handling anything that could be hot, and always use oven mitts.

Another warning: This cheesecake will ruin your diet. Do not make it if you are counting calories or care deeply about your health.

Full ingredients list:

Brownie

- 1 sauce pan, a spoon, and spring-form pan

- ½ cup butter (one stick)

- 1 cup white sugar

- 2 large eggs

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- ⅓ cup baking cocoa

-½ cup all-purpose flour

-¼ teaspoon salt

-¼ teaspoon baking powder

Caramel Sauce

- Sauce pan, wooden spoon

-1 cup Brown Sugar

-4 Tablespoons Butter (½ stick)

-1/2 cup Heavy whipping cream

-1 Tablespoon Vanilla

-Pinch Of Salt

Cheesecake Filling

- Mixing bowl, spatula, spring form pan from the brownie steps (Optional but recommended: Electric mixer)

- 3 x 8 ounce packages of cream cheese

- 1 x 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

- 3 large eggs

- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

- pecan halves

- Caramel sauce made in the previous steps

The recipies we derived inspiration from are listed below:

Brownie: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-brownies/

Caramel Sauce: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/01/easy-ca...

Cheesecake Filling: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/brownie-chocolate-chi...

These three individual recipes were used as a basis to create a new, unique, and delicious dessert.

For this section, you will need:

- 1 sauce pan, a spoon, and spring-form pan
- ½ cup butter (one stick)

- 1 cup white sugar - 2 large eggs

- 1 teaspoon vanilla - ⅓ cup baking cocoa

-½ cup all-purpose flour

-¼ teaspoon salt

-¼ teaspoon baking powder

Set the oven’s temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease your spring-form pan.

Add the butter to the sauce pan and place it on the stove-top on medium to melt. Once melted turn-off the stove-top, stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in you dry ingredients including your cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder.

Put your batter in the greased spring-form pan. We had to use a spatula to scrape out the edges of the sauce pan.

Place the spring-form pan in the heated oven. Baking time will be 25-30 minutes until a fork is pulled out cleanly. We baked ours for 30 minutes on a timer to ensure we didn’t overcook it.

For this section, you will need:

- Sauce pan, wooden spoon

-1 cup Brown Sugar

-4 Tablespoons Butter (½ stick)

-1/2 cup Heavy whipping cream

-1 Tablespoon Vanilla -Pinch Of Salt

Mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-low to medium heat. Cook while stirring gently for 7-8 minutes, until thicker. There will be a distinct color change when the sauce has caramelized. Remove from heat. Picture 1 shows the sauce before the color change. Picture 2 is how it will look after it has changed color.

If sauce is thin, just continue cooking for a few more minutes. Attention: if cooked too long and stirred caramel sauce will turn into caramel fudge. If this happens, it will just need to be warmed up before drizzled over the cheesecake at the end.

For this section, you will need:

- Mixing bowl, spatula, spring form pan from the brownie steps (Optional but recommended: Electric mixer)

- 3 x 8 ounce packages of cream cheese

- 1 x 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

- 3 large eggs

- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

- pecan halves

- caramel sauce made in the previous steps

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. This shouldn't take long since it should still be warm from making the brownie.

Add all three packages of cream cheese to a bowl. Beat the cream cheese until it is fluffy. An electric mixer comes in handy here, but it is not necessary. This can be done by hand, but it is a lot more work.

Slowly add the entire can of sweetened condensed milk to the cream cheese. This should be done while continuously beating the mixture. Mix this until all the sweetened condensed milk has been added.

Once the mixture is smooth, add all three eggs and the vanilla extract. Mix this until everything is smooth, and then mix it a little longer. TIP: To pull the mixing attachments out of the filling cleanly, keep the mixer on a high setting as you pull it straight out of the filling. Make sure to do this very slowly so as not to splatter the filling everywhere!

Pour the cheesecake filling directly on top of the brownie. It should nearly fill the pan in a smooth layer. There should be about an inch between the top of the filling and the top of the pan. The filling will expand slightly, but it won’t rise too much.

Put the spring form pan into the oven on the top rack. You can add a pan on the lower rack in case of any leaks.

Bake the cheesecake for 50 minutes. After 50 minutes, check the cheesecake for firmness. It should be lightly browned on the top and be firm to the touch. It won’t be firm all the way through until after it is chilled. If you think it needs more time, set a timer for 5 to 10 minutes. Almost anytime I have baked a cheesecake it has needed an extra 10 or 15 more minutes, but do not bake it for more than 70 minutes total.

Once the cheesecake has cooled for a bit, run a knife around the outside edge in between the spring form pan and the cheesecake. This will make it easier to remove the cheesecake later on. When the cheesecake has cooled to near room temperature, cover it, and move it to the fridge to chill. From past experience, about 24 hours is a good length of time to chill.

Once the cheesecake is chilled, remove it from the fridge. Now it can be decorated with pecans and some of the caramel sauce that you made earlier. We made a turtle design to complement the turtle flavors. Save some caramel sauce and pecans to chop up later and use to garnish individual slices.

Cut the cheesecake into slices, but don’t cut them too big. This cheesecake is very rich and very filling. Put the slice on a plate, and drizzle caramel sauce over the top. Sprinkle some chopped pecans over the caramel sauce and enjoy!