Everyone loves cheesecake and chocolate and cheesecake seems like the perfect combination.

This is an easy recipe to put together and the German chocolate and caramel makes for a scrumptious and very attractive cheesecake dessert. You can make the caramel topping from melted caramels and the chocolate topping with the recipe but ice cream toppings work just as well and save a little time.

This recipe can be made a day or two in advance.

Ingredients

For the crust:

2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs.
6 tablespoons butter, melted.

For the filling:

2 1/2 eight-ounce packages of cream cheese
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

For the toppings:

• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• For the chocolate topping, combine four ounces of sweet German chocolate with two tablespoons whipping cream and one tablespoon butter. Melt in a small saucepan and stir until smooth.  Or use dark chocolate ice cream topping.
• For the caramel topping, melt 12 caramels with 1/3 cup cream in a small saucepan, stirring until smooth. Or use caramel ice cream topping.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

1. In a nine-inch springform pan, mix the crumbs and the melted butter. (We prefer a Candy Apple Red Silicone Springform Pan.)  Press the crumb mixture into a crust across the bottom and about one inch up the sides. Bake the crust for eight minutes.
2. In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese with the sugar. Add the flour and salt. Add the eggs, vanilla, and milk all at once. Mix until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Pour the filling mix into the crust.
3. Bake for ten minutes at 450 degrees. Lower the temperature to 200 degrees and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes or until the cheesecake filling is set.
4. After the cheesecake has cooled for ten minutes, with a thin bladed spatula, loosen the edges of the cheesecake from the pan so that the cake will pull away from the pan as it cools. Remove the rim of the pan after it has cooled for about forty-five minutes.  (If you use the silicone pan, you can merely peal the silicone shell away from the cheesecake without disturbing the crust.)
5. Drizzle the cheesecake with caramel and then with chocolate. Sprinkle nuts on the cake. Refrigerate until completely cool before serving.