chocolate turtle cookies
I hope you’ve saved room for one last cookie recipe, because these were my favorites of the season! When Steph, the social media manager from America’s Test Kitchen, sent me a copy of America’s Test Kitchen Holiday Cookies 2010 Special Issue I had a hard time deciding which cookies to make. I asked Joseph if he could help me narrow down the options and when I opened the cover he saw these chocolate turtle cookies and said, “Those. Make those.” I told him he couldn’t take the easy way out; he had to look at all 64 recipes and tell me which one he wanted. But even after going through the entire special issue, he stuck with his original answer: the chocolate turtle cookies.
And frankly, it’s just further proof that I picked out the perfect guy because he was so right. These cookies are ridiculously good. How can you go wrong with gooey caramel nestled in a delicate chocolate cookie coated in toasted pecans? The answer? You just can’t.
I know, it’s a new year, and eating healthier is on nearly everyone’s list of resolutions. But if your new year’s resolutions included making good food, this is the recipe for you. Because even if you’re trying to cut down on sweets, you want to make sure that the sweets you do eat are well worth it. And these cookies are definitely worth it.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 large egg, separated, plus 1 egg white
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups pecans, chopped fine
- 14 soft caramel candies
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Combine flour, cocoa, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, 1 hour.
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk egg whites in bowl until frothy. Place pecans in another bowl. Roll dough into 1-inch balls, dip in egg whites, then roll in pecans. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Using 1/2-teaspoon measure, make indentation in center of each ball. Bake until set, about 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking.
- Microwave caramels and cream in bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Once cookies are removed from oven, gently re-press existing indentations. Fill each with 1/2 teaspoon caramel mixture. Cool 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Try not to devour them all at once.
January 12th, 2012 at 9:48 am
These cookies are adorable and I LOVE the pecan pieces on the outside. That creamy caramel doesn’t hurt either 🙂 I pinned this recipe, can’t wait to make these!
January 12th, 2012 at 10:04 am
Do you think these cookies would travel well (i.e. through the mail)? I have a friend’s birthday coming up and I wanted to send her some cookies. These look amazing, but maybe they would be too messy after they got all the way to her. What do you think?
January 12th, 2012 at 11:41 am
Well, it might be a little messy, but you could make it work if you really want to send these. I would put wax or parchment paper between each layer and wrap them up so that they’re not going to shake around too much in the box. When she takes off the paper between the layers there will be some caramel stuck to it, but other than that, it should be fine.
January 12th, 2012 at 11:03 am
Oh I want these! They turned out perfect.
January 12th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
these look wonderful. i can’t wait to make them. by the way, i have found myself baking more and more cookies with my OXO spatula i won on your blog. it really is the best cookie spatula i have ever come across. thanks again 🙂
January 12th, 2012 at 3:27 pm
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the spatula! I can tell you for a fact that the OXO spatula works really well on these cookies, but you may want to check it out for yourself 🙂
January 12th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Saw this on Foodgawker and had to come checkout the recipe. They look amazing!
January 12th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Thanks so much for stopping by!
January 12th, 2012 at 5:56 pm
OMG! These sound HEAVENLY! I found your blog through foodgawker! Love this cookie, I WILL be making this soon! 🙂
January 12th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
I bought that issue of cook’s illustrated for this recipe and made them over the holidays. Totally my new favorite cookie. Yours are lovely!
January 15th, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Thanks! Yeah, the entire issue is pretty stellar, but so far these are my favorite. This recipe alone is worth the purchase!
January 12th, 2012 at 9:34 pm
these look so yummy. I just love turtles so I think I will love these. thanks for sharing.
January 12th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
I seriously considered making these over the holidays, but I took on so many other baking projects. I definitely need to make them at some point. Yours look gorgeous.
January 15th, 2012 at 6:16 pm
It is incredibly hard to narrow down the choices for the holidays. Fortunately these aren’t super Christmasy or anything, so they’re perfect for any time of year!
January 13th, 2012 at 11:45 am
These look amazingly beautiful and decadent! The texture look just perfect too!
January 13th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
the caramel on top is simply perfect, I’m afraid that these cookies will become my favorite ones
January 16th, 2012 at 10:23 am
I made these this weekend!! But I cannot tell you how much trouble I had trying to find plain caramels!! Philadelphia (or at least my neighborhood) seems entirely opposed to selling them. So I ended up having to buy caramels with cream centers, and then cutting the centers out (wasn’t hard to do). I’m not sure my caramel was quite as good as it would have been with plain caramels, but I assure you there were no complaints from the folks who ate the cookies!! Thanks for posting. I love the pecans on this cookie – they make all the difference.
January 16th, 2012 at 10:30 am
Wow, that takes some determination to cut out all the cream centers! I’m glad you were able to make it work!
January 17th, 2012 at 11:20 am
ahhh could these be any cuter!!?!? They look awesome girl! and sound deeeellish! Just found your blog today!
January 18th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
WOW WOW WOW
Sooo delicious!! I’m on diet 🙁
January 24th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
This look fantastic! However, I might have to go the completely lazy route and try them with Toffifee stuck in the center rather than dealing with caramel. I have no idea if you can get them in the US (we’re in Germany) but they seem perfect for these…
January 28th, 2012 at 6:04 pm
Awesome recipe! Just tried them and they turned out perfectly! The chocolate cookie nice and fudgey, the pecans lightly toasted and the caramel deliciously smooth! Would definitely make them again and they’ll probably become a must have on my holiday baking list from now on!
January 30th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
I’m so glad you liked them! They are absolutely going to be on my holiday baking list from now on, not to mention whenever I need a chocolate-caramel fix! They’re just too good!
January 30th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
I plan on making these this week! They look so delicious!!! I was wondering if the caramel stays soft after cooling? I’ve made turtles before & the caramel got really hard after cooling for a while.
January 30th, 2012 at 2:24 pm
No, the caramel stays wonderfully soft and gooey, even days later (if you still have any left by then!). Let me know how it goes!
April 20th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
Kristen, thanks for the recipe, these were awesome! My grandmother loves turtle sundaes, turtle cake, etc. so I made these and sent them as a care package for her 97th birthday. She always jokes that she wishes her doctor would prescribe chocolate for her health – I figured at 97 she should eat as many of these as she wants 🙂
April 24th, 2012 at 8:22 am
These look heavinly! I was wondering, can they be made ahead and frozen? Or how long would they last in a container?
April 24th, 2012 at 10:07 am
They’ll last around a week in a sealed container. I haven’t tried freezing them, but they should keep for up to a month if you wrapped them well. Not a bad idea – that way you could always have some on hand!
June 2nd, 2012 at 5:05 am
I made these as part of a Mother’s Day gift. They turned out soooo good & yummy! Perfect! 🙂
June 25th, 2012 at 10:15 am
…they literally fell apart on the cooling rack. 12 minutes is nowhere near enough? I followed the recipe exactly. Heaps disappointing 🙁
June 25th, 2012 at 10:35 am
Oh no! Maybe your oven runs a little cool? Or maybe the batter didn’t cool enough before you put it in the oven. It’s important to cool it thoroughly so that the butter doesn’t melt the second you put them in the oven.
July 1st, 2012 at 3:05 pm
If I am not going to use the pecans (nut allergies) would I still dip the balls in the egg white?
July 1st, 2012 at 5:18 pm
You can skip the egg wash – that’s just necessary to get the nuts to stick to the cookie. Enjoy!
July 12th, 2012 at 3:35 am
Hi, I have a gas oven. Max temp is 230 degrees. will be I able to bake in lower temp. this cookies?
July 14th, 2012 at 11:32 pm
Hi Martha, is that in Celsius or Fahrenheit? If your oven is in Celsius, cook them at about 175 or 180 degrees.
July 17th, 2012 at 3:01 pm
Thanx, my oven – Celsius. Will do them this weekend.
August 22nd, 2012 at 2:07 am
i want to make these tomorrow but i dont have pecans…do you think i could use crushed walnuts instead of the pecans?? they look so yummy 🙂
August 22nd, 2012 at 7:56 am
Yes, walnuts would be fine. Enjoy!
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:06 pm
I love turtles and want to give this a try, but you don’t specify which rack to bake them on. You said to adjust the oven racks up and down from middle, but then you don’t specify which rack to use when it’s time to bake? That’ll make a huge difference. Which one should I use, middle top or middle bottom? thank you
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:26 pm
IF you’ve got two cookie sheets, you’ll want to put one in the upper-middle and one in the lower-middle position so that one is in the upper third of your oven and the other is about 2/3 of the way down. Then you’ll want to rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking. If you only want to bake one sheet at a time, bake it on the middle rack in your oven.
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:33 pm
awesome! Now I understand switching! thank you.
September 9th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Made. LOVED!!!!!! Posted about. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe … just may be my new favorite cookie. I added a chocolate drizzle on top … come check ’em out if you’d like.
http://thekitchenismyplayground.blogspot.com/2012/09/insanely-delicious-turtle-cookies.html
Tracey @ The Kitchen is My Playground
September 13th, 2012 at 10:48 pm
How do you know when the cookies are done? Mine have been in over 12 minutes but they are super soft. How are they supposed to be?
October 18th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
The cookie itself should be somewhat firm to the touch,but not hard. It you press the cookie lightly, it should kind of bounce back.
October 17th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
These came out great! I hope there are some left for my husband when he gets home from work tonight!
October 22nd, 2012 at 9:09 pm
can I use milk instead of heavy cream? and instead of putting the caramel on the top could i use rolos?
October 23rd, 2012 at 4:34 am
If you want to use rolos, I would skip the heavy cream altogether. Instead, I would press the rolos into the cookie dough just before baking. If you decide to go the caramel route, I would not replace the heavy cream with milk because it will make the caramel too thin.
October 26th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Hi, i made the cookies and froze them without the caramel, took them out a week later and put the caramel on frozen cookies… they are so good, i am going to server them tomorrow night with a maple syrup mousse verrines and apple cake… thank you so much for this recipe… Sylvie
October 31st, 2012 at 4:51 am
I made it and it was pure sin ! I used cashew nuts instead of pecan and added some grated cooking chocolate to the mixture as well. I used a caramel sauce ( home made by boiling a tin of condensed milk ) for the centre 🙂
November 6th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
How do I not make them to come out flat even thow I used everything by order
November 6th, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Maybe you didn’t chill the dough enough? Also make sure that your butter is not melted, just soft enough that it leaves an impression if you press with your fingers, but it should still provide some resistance.
November 10th, 2012 at 8:52 pm
These look really good. Can you freeze them? If so, for how long?
November 12th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
I’ve never tried freezing them, but it should work. I think in general you can freeze cookies for 3-6 months.
November 19th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Will the caramel make the cookies stick together when I put them in a container?
November 19th, 2012 at 8:28 pm
Yes – put some wax or parchment paper between layers.
November 19th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
I am going to try these and give them as gifts. I have almost all the ingredients on hand but wondered if salted/unsalted butter mattered when making these cookies?
November 19th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
I prefer unsalted, but if you have salted, that’s fine, just cut down the salt in the recipe.
December 3rd, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Found this recipe and your blog via pinterest and I made these cookies for a dessert party last weekend – they were great! Might be my new holiday favorite. I just blogged about them – thanks for sharing the recipe.
December 6th, 2012 at 2:31 pm
How many cookies does this recipe make? I have a cookie exchange on Saturday so I plan on making 7 dozen of these delicious little suckers tomorrow.
December 6th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
The recipe makes 2 1/2 dozen, so you’ll probably want to triple the recipe. Have fun!
December 6th, 2012 at 3:03 pm
Thank you! Of course I noticed that at the top right after I posted my comment. Silly me. Wish me luck! I hope mine turn out as beautiful as yours! Thank you for sharing the recipe, I’ll let you know if they win!
December 10th, 2012 at 11:57 am
Wow! I was looking for a turtle cookie recipe that contained caramel for my cookie exchange at work. I had found recipes, but not with caramel and then I googled and this came up… OMG! I am so glad I found this recipe, I made them and ate one and all I could keep saying was OMG! I’m sure they will be a hit, I will find out today! I will be making them again for my family for Christmas! Thank You!!!!
December 14th, 2012 at 12:54 am
I’ve never heard of turtle cookies but am trying these tonight for a party tomorrow!
My husband could only find jersey caramels (is there a difference?!) hmmm, will post tomorrow if they work.
Thanks!
December 14th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Tried it and failed. not sure where i went worng… will give another go tomorrow 🙂 thank you for sharing
December 14th, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Jersey caramels work fine- yay!
I had to cook them a few mins extra and used butter instead of shortening but they turned out really well! Also, I squished them back to the perfect shape when they came out the oven. Thanks!!
December 14th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Does anyone know if these freeze well?
December 17th, 2012 at 8:29 pm
I made these cookies, found the recipe off of Pinterest, and plan on making MANY batches for the holidays! They were perfect! I struggled with getting the caramel to harden up enough that they didn’t just ooze all over when I tried moving them, maybe less cream next time…. But, a new favorite! THANK YOU!!
December 19th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Did you use roasted nuts? I would like to but I don’t want them to have a burnt flavor when they finish cooking.
December 19th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
Hi Joanna, The nuts will get toasted lightly while the cookies bake, so there’s no need to roast them beforehand.
December 19th, 2012 at 5:07 pm
Just made these for the first time…and won the Christmas baking contest at the school where I work! Thanks for sharing a great recipe. They are not too hard to make, and really delicious.
December 23rd, 2012 at 5:55 pm
I made theses cookies today after finding them on Pinterest. My husband loves chocolate turtles so this was sure to be a winner. These are as amazing as they look. A couple of things I will do differently next year. The mixer makes the cookie mixture too soft. Next time I will either mix by hand or chill longer. Chilling and keeping the cookie dough relatively cold ensures they don’t melt in the oven. I also will make sure I chop the nuts more finely. I also will add less cream to the caramels or add more to the mixture so the caramel gets a little bit firmer like the chocolate candy turtles. Lastly my formed cookie balls were about 2″ this was was too big, not because I don’t love big cookies, but because they take forever to cook and the cookies are so rich they simply are too big to finish. Making the bigger cookie I ended up baking nearly 20 min. Thank you for this wonderful recipe it will be a family classic now for years to come.
December 24th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Just made these! Next time I’m using Trader Joe’s fleur de sel caramels! Yum!!
December 24th, 2012 at 5:14 pm
I’ll be trying these out tonight. I’ll be making them Mexican style though by using Dulce de Leche which is a type of caramel!! So excited to se how they come out. I have a squeze bottle for a mess free pour hahaha
December 29th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
I can only imagine how good these cookies must taste, especially with that pool of caramel in the middle of them! I’m so glad there are others out there like me who still think cookie recipes are 100% acceptable after New Year’s (resolutions or not!). We can’t miss out on this kind of a deliciousnness!
March 15th, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Can i use homemade caramel? How can i make the caramel harden a little bit?
Thank you in advance!!! These are the recipe ive been looking for!!! Thanks for sharong it!????
April 26th, 2013 at 12:14 pm
I made these for my grandfather and he LOVED them!!!!!
May 4th, 2013 at 8:27 am
Another Winner! I just had to pre-test these as a contribution for a fund-raising bake sale this coming week. They are absolutely, hands down my favourite cookie. Surprisingly not sweet, just the right amount of caramel heaven with rich chocolate cookie goodness covered in pecans. I posted them on my blog. Thank you for sharing this cookie!
June 9th, 2013 at 12:57 pm
Ok guys I made these a few months ago for a cookie exchange and OMG I had to make extras because we couldn’t keep our hands off them!
Now I was thinking, what if I tried a chocolate shortbread cookie recipe with the nuts and caramel if it might work…any thaughts ladies?
September 21st, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Danger! Danger! I would never stop eating these! These look amazing! Thank you for posting!
November 21st, 2013 at 6:03 pm
Great recipe
December 3rd, 2013 at 8:53 pm
I cheated when I made these and put a hershey’s caramel kiss on top (was trying to make too many things in a short amount of time) and it was great! I’m making them again this year because they were such a hit.
December 8th, 2013 at 2:20 am
I made these tonight for our employee Christmas party tomorrow. They were a messy concoction but my son loved them. I also made some without the pecans and he said they were good too but better with the pecans. I wanted some without nuts for people with allergies. I had trouble melting the caramels in the microwave so I ended up getting out my melting pot.
December 10th, 2013 at 2:18 pm
I made these a few days ago and they were delicious! My younger brother ate almost all of them alone. And he was like “they are sooo good!!”.
Thanks for sharing the recipe!
December 13th, 2013 at 9:44 am
Did you use salted pecans or the baking pecans in the baking aisle?
December 13th, 2013 at 10:38 am
I used plain, unsalted pecans.
December 13th, 2013 at 3:52 pm
Can you substitute gluten free chocolate cake mix for the flour, salt and cocoa powder?
December 13th, 2013 at 4:17 pm
Hi Erin, I’m really not sure if it would work or not. I’m not familiar with gluten free cake mixes, but I imagine they have more in them than just the equivalent to flour, salt, and cocoa powder – there’s probably a leavening agent of some sort. I guess you could give it a try, but have a backup plan if it doesn’t work.
December 16th, 2013 at 4:31 pm
Hi so I just made these and they taste great but! When I was trying to roll the dough it was extremely sticky and very hard to roll into the egg and pecans. Any advice of what I maybe did wrong? I left the batter in the fridge for over 1:30…thanks!
December 17th, 2013 at 1:04 pm
These look delicious! Do you have a recipe to make the caramel center without using store brought candy? Thanks!
December 18th, 2013 at 9:21 am
Hmm…. I’m not sure. Are you sure that you added all of the flour, or conversely, that you didn’t add too much of any of the wet ingredients? It’s normal to be a little sticky (especially when rolling), but it shouldn’t be so sticky that it’s difficult to roll in the pecans.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:39 pm
do you know the macros per cookie? like calories/carbs/protein/fat?
December 24th, 2013 at 2:22 am
Oh, so good. Just made these absolutely delectable cookies tonight. I substituted Dulce de Leche for the caramel, though. I can’t wait to see what the people at work think of them tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.
February 1st, 2014 at 12:09 pm
I’m going to make these for the Super Bowl gather tomorrow!
February 6th, 2014 at 10:08 am
Hi,i made this today and guess what? It was so yummy! But i have a question, am having difficulty to roll the dough as the dough was very sticky and also difficult to dip in egg whites and roll in pecans. Can you help me with this? Overall, my parents Loved them so much!
May 19th, 2014 at 10:05 am
Can I substitute carmel sauce or would it be too runny?
May 22nd, 2014 at 9:57 am
I’m not sure as I haven’t tried it. Store bought caramel sauce might be a bit runny, but it’s worth trying. Another reader said that she made her own caramel sauce and that it worked out well. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
June 26th, 2014 at 1:23 am
Just made these cookies n they look n taste great. I need to work on making smaller cookie balls but still yum. Think I found my cookie to give as a gift for the holidays! Thanks for sharing 🙂
October 1st, 2014 at 3:32 pm
Do you think these would be good if modified for a heart healthy version?
November 16th, 2014 at 9:42 pm
Dear i have questions.. I am these the other day they tasted so good … But expanded to much ? Why is that? And they would’t hold their shape well ?
November 22nd, 2014 at 9:54 pm
The cookies do expand a bit once baked. Just go back over the indentation in the cookies with your thumb or a teaspoon while they’re still hot out of the oven. If they spread out quite a bit, it may be that your dough warmed up too much before putting them in the oven. If you’re worried about this happening again, you could refrigerate the cookie sheets with the formed cookies before baking – that will help make sure that the butter in the dough hasn’t softened too much.
December 5th, 2014 at 11:03 pm
So I’ve made these before but 2 years ago and can’t remember if I should be using unsweetened cocoa powder or dutch process- do you remember what the recipe works best with? I remember loving them and want to recreate success. Thanks!
April 15th, 2015 at 7:28 pm
Would it be ok to use Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa in place of cocoa powder? The ingredients are sweet ground chocolate & cocoa, natural & artificial flavor.
Thanks! Can’t wait to get started on these!
July 25th, 2015 at 10:16 pm
My 12yr old daughter made these for a 4-H project and got special honors. Very delicious and easy to make. (Hint: you can dip your 1/2 tsp in powdered sugar so it don’t stick)
December 11th, 2015 at 8:04 pm
Unsweetened cocoa right?
December 24th, 2015 at 3:38 pm
Yes, unsweetened cocoa.
December 18th, 2015 at 12:38 pm
I just made these and they are delicious! They’re not at all complicated, either, which I love. These will definitely become a yearly staple in our house.
December 22nd, 2015 at 5:31 pm
Worst cookies ever! Sorry,way to much cocoa. I chef at one of the top yacht clubs in the north American continent and these cookies suck! Sorry but they do. Nice try don’t give up hope,better luck next time.