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cheater chocolate turtles (with fleur de sel)

June 13th, 2012 · 6 Comments

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In case you were wondering where I’ve been lately, let me explain: growing a baby is a lot of work. Prepping for a baby’s impending arrival is even more work including rearranging the house, painting furniture, buying the necessities, and cramming in as much fun as possible before sleep deprivation begins! Add to that a 30+ person surprise birthday party for my husband and preparing students for finals and, well… you get the drift. I dropped off the planet for a while, but now that I am on summer break I have some amazing recipes up my sleeve to share with you.

You are going to love these treats! Well, that is, you will if you love caramel and chocolate and pecans . If you hate any of these ingredients, you may want to skip this particular recipe as there is no avoiding the onslaught of caramel-y, nutty goodness that these babies contain. I made these for my students as a bribe to “please remember me for something other than just forcing you to practice trig equations”. I know I’m their math tutor, but maybe, just maybe, they’ll look back on their time with me with fond memories that include cookies, kittens, and great laughs. If not, they can always remember the excellent grade they got in the class and how excited they were about that. :)

I call these cheater turtles because they’re everything that those famous goodies are known for without the hassle of arranging pecan pieces just-so. They come together in no time at all and are perfect for kids and adults alike.

Don’t skip the sea salt on top. It’s what really makes these treats pop!

cheater chocolate turtles (with fleur de sel)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Yield: 12-16 cookies

Ingredients

caramel sauce:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp honey
2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) pecan halves
chocolate coating
6 ounces (1 generous cup) milk or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp canola oil
fleur de sel sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

  1. Grease a baking sheet lightly with oil and set aside. Set out a large spoon.
  2. Make the caramel sauce: In a medium saucepan, cook the butter, brown sugar, and honey over medium heat, stirring often, until the butter and sugar melt. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Boil for exactly 2 1/2 minutes, stirring constantly. Be sure to stir all around the edges of the pan to prevent burning. Remove from the heat and stir in the pecans, stirring to coat them with caramel, then immediately use a large spoon to drop heaping tablespoons of the mixture 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Let cool completely. (As soon as the clusters are cool, they will slide easily off the oiled baking sheet.)
  3. Make the chocolate coating: Put the chocolate and oil in a heatproof container on the top of a double boiler and place it over, but not touching a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water and let cool until slightly thickened, 15 to 20 minutes.*
  4. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the chocolate coating over the top of each cookie (use all the chocolate coating) so that some chocolate drizzles down the sides. The clusters should not be completely covered with chocolate (although I completely covered mine because I LOVE chocolate!). Sprinkle with fleur de sel sea salt. Let the cookie clusters sit at room temperature until the chocolate coating is firm, about 1 hour. Or, to speed the firming of the chocolate, refrigerate the cookies for about 20 minutes.
  5. The cookies can be stored covered in a single layer in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Serve at room temperature. The cookies will become firm and brittle when cold but soften when brought back to room temperature.
  6. *Feeling ambitious? Temper the chocolate so that you can leave the cookies out at room temperature without the fat solids separating from the chocolate. You can read more about tempering chocolate here: http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2010/03/how-to-temper-chocolate.html
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Tags: 60 min or less · dessert · easy

6 responses so far ↓

  • 1 HoodooVoodoo // Jun 13, 2012 at 8:03 pm

    OH MY GOSH. This looks so good and it doesn’t look complicated at all. Yum.

  • 2 Georgia @ The Comfort of Cooking // Jun 19, 2012 at 12:49 pm

    Turtles are my absolute favorite candy ever, and yours look perfect, Paula! Wonderful candy recipe!

  • 3 Angie@Angie's Recipes // Jun 23, 2012 at 11:30 am

    These turtles look divine!

  • 4 Pam // Jun 24, 2012 at 7:46 pm

    These would be dangerous for me… they look and sound AMAZING!

  • 5 Nicole@HeatOven To350 // Jul 1, 2012 at 3:31 pm

    Love the idea of a cheater version of turtles. Who needs them all arranged just so! They look delicious. I’m sure your students will always wonder why for the rest of their lives doing math makes them hungry. :)

  • 6 Miss NomNom // Jul 21, 2012 at 11:39 am

    These were so fun to make and so tasty! When I made them, 6oz of chocolate looked like too little, so I doubled it, but they ended up being a little sweet for me. I think that I’ll use walnuts next time to cut down some of the carmel and chocolate sweetness. Also, I mistakenly made them HUGE, so I’ve ended up with mega turtles, but no one seems to mind. ;)

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