Back in the day, Fannie Mae was my jam, and I ate as many of their turtle candies as I could get my hand on. I figured it would be such a bomb cookie flavor so one day, I started developing this turtle cookie recipe. I love how they turned out. I make a soft cookie dough then add chewy caramel to the center along with pecans and chocolate sauce. I think they are just the perfect combo of all sweet and salty flavors in one treat.
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How to Make Turtle Cookies
Making the Cookie Dough
- Combine the butter and both sugars in a bowl and beat until the mixture is nice and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix again until they are well incorporated into the mixture.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix until everything is mixed into the cookie dough. Refrigerate the dough for 30-45 minutes so it will be easier to work with when shaping the cookies.
Shaping the Turtle Cookies
- Shape the dough into medium-sized balls and place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Place one piece of unwrapped caramel candy in the center of each cookie ball and press down to flatten. Add 4-5 pecans on the bottoms of the cookie balls to give the cookies a turtle shape.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until they are nice and browned and the caramel has melted through. Drizzle with chocolate sauce and serve!
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Turtle Cookie Recipe
Want to Save This Recipe, Boo?
I’ll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter 1 stick at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 package wrapped CHEWY caramel candies make sure they are the soft ones and not hard candy
- 1 package pecans
- ganache or chocolate sauce warmed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and both sugars to the bowl and mix until nice and fluffy.
- Next add in the egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix until well incorporated.
- While mixture is creaming, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.
- Lastly, add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix until well incorporated. Place the dough in the fridge for about 30-45 minutes to chill up a bit.
- Remove dough from refrigerator. Next roll a medium large scoop of dough into a ball and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
- Place 1 unwrapped caramel candy in the center of each cookie ball and press down to flatten. Press 3-4 pecans on the bottoms of the cookie balls to resemble a turtle shape.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until they are nice and browned and the caramel has melted through.
- Next drizzle chocolate sauce over cookies and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- Use a medium-sized cookie scoop to make even-sized turtle cookies. They will bake evenly this way too.
- Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature for easier and more thorough mixing.
- Let the cookies cool slightly on the tray before moving them to a rack to cool. This allows them to set a bit so they don’t break or lose their feet.
Recipe Help
Since it can be visually a bit difficult to determine when your cookies are ready, you can go by texture instead. Look to see if the edges are dry and set. You can even lightly press on the edges to check them. It’s ok if the middles are slightly soft especially since the caramel is in the center.
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Absolutely delicious! I made this nut-free by using allergy-safe caramel candy and omitting the pecans.
These cookies were featured on Good Morning America on their 12 days of Christmas Cookies. It is the exact same recipe except yours has 1 cup of butter & the other recipe has 1/2 cup., other than that it’s exact. Your thoughts?
No this has the same measurement except it is written differently. 1 stick of butter equals 1/2 cup of butter. Will make the edit here since this was an older recipe.
I made these with a gluten-free all purpose flour mixture of tapioca starch, almond flour, and coconut flour. They turned out great!! Baked for 12 minutes and they came out perfectly chewy. Didn’t even bother with the caramel candy or chocolate sauce. I’ll be baking these again for sure!!
I can’t wait to make these, Jocelyn! Could you add the Pinterest button on the recipe so I can save it like I did for your other recipes? Thanks!
So strange. There should be a pinterest button on all recipes. Were you able to locate it?
Interesting article!! Thanks for sharing the cookies recipe with us. I am not so good in cooking but love to taste different recipes. I love chocolate very much and the product with chocolate. I always buy chocolate from this http://www.chocholik.com/shop/collection/store. Here I found collection of cake and cookies.
Yum, these look great. I’d never heard of them before here in Australia but I’m keen to try! Thanks for the idea.
Absolutely happy to share!
Holy cow, my first visit and I’m drooling all over the keyboard. I loved turtles when I lived in the states. These are so mine. 🙂
Aren’t turtles the absolute best? I adore them too!
OMG, Jocelyn. I’m sitting here wanting something sweet to eat and I open your blog. My mouth is watering looking at these cookies. They look amazing! I watched your segment on the Chicago Fox channel today. Great job. It was great to see you in action! 🙂
Bill @ http://www.southernboydishes.com
Thanks so much Bill! I really appreciate it!
these are the first turtles I’ve ever seen that LOOK like turtles!!! Cute as all get out!
Thanks so much! They actually do look like Turtles!
These edible turtles are almost too cute to eat. Almost. 😀 They look deliciously addicting.
Thanks so much Valerie!!
I agree with Valerie.