Indulge your sweet tooth with these decadent Chocolate Pecan Caramel Turtle Cookies!
Turtle cookies are the perfect holiday treat or Christmas cookies, and they really make impressive cookie gifts too! This turtle cookie recipe has the best combination of flavors and textures.
The extra egg yolk and cornstarch are my secret ingredients, they add a softness and the perfect thickness to cookies… Each cookie has a gooey caramel-filled thumbprint, with crunchy pecans, and a rich chocolate drizzle.
Recipe Notes & Tips
- Softened Butter: Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature before creaming it with the sugars. This helps ensure a smooth dough.
- High-Quality Cocoa Powder: Use a good quality unsweetened cocoa powder for the best chocolate flavor.
- Chocolate Drizzle: For a more dramatic drizzle, use a piping bag with a small tip. Alternatively, you can use a ziplock bag with a small corner snipped off.
- Storage: The cookies will stay fresh for up to 3 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
Turtle Cookie Tips:
- For a more chewy cookie, bake the cookies for a few minutes less.
- For a more crisp cookie, bake the cookies for a few minutes longer.
- If you don’t have pecans, you can use walnuts or almonds instead.
- Or for a nut-free option, omit the nuts altogether;)
How to Make Chocolate Turtle Cookies
Make your chocolate dough: In a large, mix together cornstarch, flour, cocoa, and salt; and set it aside for a minute.
In a the bowl of a stand mixer, beat your butter until it’s creamy. Then add brown and white sugars, and beat it again for another 2 minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Next you’ll add the egg pls the extra egg yolk, the milk, vanilla extract, and mix until everything is incorporated.
Then, lower the mixing speed (to the low setting) and add the cornstarch, mini chocolate chips, flour and coco mixture until just combined. Don’t overmix it.
Chill Dough: Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 2-3 hours. After 2-3 hours, remove the dough. (You can let it sit on your counter for a few minutes if its too hard to work with.)
Preheat Oven: oven to 350F degrees. Line baking sheets with nonslip mats or parchment; set aside.
Roll cookie dough in Nuts: Add chopped pecan pieces to a small bowl. Scoop chilled cookie dough into 1-inch balls, then roll each ball into the chopped pecans, and press the nuts firmly into the dough. Place cookie dough balls per baking sheet about 2 inches apart so they have room to spread as they bake.
Thumbprint Cookie Centers: Using a small teaspoon, make a slight indentation in the center of each cookie dough ball for the caramel.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet. Then, use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to cooling rack, and, gently press the center indentations in again. If you try to remove the cookies from the cookie sheet before letting them cool first, they can break easily. 😉
Caramel Filling: While your cookies are cooling on a wire rack… Prep your caramel filling by microwaving caramels with the cream in a small microwave safe bowl for 1-2 minutes, stirring the caramels and cream every 30 seconds until melted and smooth.
Fill thumbprint indentations with about ½ – 1 teaspoon of the caramel sauce.
Make Chocolate Drizzle: Microwave chocolate and coconut oil in a small bowl, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Then, pour your melted chocolate into a piping bag (or a Ziploc bag, snip off a small corner) and drizzle over cookies!
Let me know what you think!
If you make this recipe, please let me know what you think… I’d really appreciate a star rating or a review! Or tag me on Instagram with your cookies!
Chocolate Turtle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter at room temperature or softened (1 stick)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 cup Hershey’s cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup pecans chopped
- Caramel Filling:
- 15 wrapped kraft caramels
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- Chocolate Drizzle
- 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
Instructions
- In a large, mix together flour, cornstarch, cocoa, mini chocolate chips and salt; and set it aside for a minute.
- In a the bowl of a stand mixer, beat your butter until it's creamy. Then add brown and white sugars, and beat it again for another 2 minutes until it's light and fluffy. Next you'll add the egg and egg yolk, milk, vanilla, and mix until everything is incorporated.
- Lower the mixing speed (to the low setting) and add the cornstarch, flour and coco mixture, and and mini chocolate chips until just combined. Don't overmix it.
- Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 2-3 hours. After 2-3 hours, remove the dough. (You can let it sit on your counter for a few minutes if its too hard to work with.)
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line baking sheets with nonslip mats or parchment; set aside.
- Add chopped pecan pieces to a small bowl. Scoop chilled cookie dough into 1-inch balls, then roll each ball into the chopped pecans, and press those nuts firmly into the dough. Place cookie dough balls per baking sheet about 2 inches apart so they have room to spread as they bake.
- Using a small teaspoon, make a slight indentation in the center of each cookie dough ball for the caramel.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes. Then, use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to cooling rack, and, gently press the center indentations in again.
- While your cookies are cooling… Prepare your caramel filling by microwaving caramels with the cream in a small microwave safe bowl. Stir the caramels and cream every 30 seconds until melted and smooth… It takes 1-2 minutes of heating time in the microwave.
- Fill each indentation with about ½ – 1 teaspoon of the caramel sauce.
- Chocolate Drizzle, to make the chocolate drizzle, microwave chocolate and coconut oil in a small bowl, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Pour melted chocolate into a piping bag, or a Ziploc bag, snip off a small corner and drizzle over cookies!
Nutrition
About Juliea
Juliea Huffaker is the creator of Farmhouse Harvest, and dedicated to teaching from-scratch cooking, sourdough baking, gardening, and food preservation. With over 25 years of hands-on experience she has preserved hundreds of jars of produce, mastered the art of meats and sourdough baking, and nurtured a thriving organic garden. Her recipes and articles have been featured across the web. And she’s passionate about inspiring others to embrace a simpler, self-sufficient life style.
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