Chocolate Turtle Cookies Recipe, tastes of chocolate, caramel, and nuts. Easy cookie recipe perfect for holidays, Christmas, or anytime.
Chocolate Turtle Cookies, an easy holiday, Christmas, or any time of the year cookie recipe with chocolate, caramel, and nuts. Yesterday, I posted my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. As promised, I’m taking that basic dough and turning it into other cookies. First up, are my ever popular Chocolate Turtle Cookies. These cookies have a deep chocolate brownie-like flavor with chocolate chips, caramel bits, and toasted pecans! I’ve had a lot of people ask me for the recipe for these cookies but I never wrote down the recipe so never had anything to give them. But now you, as well as all my friends out there, can have the recipe! These cookies are perfect for Christmas and the holiday season!
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Be sure to read my post for my Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that I posted yesterday for a better overview of the dough. To quickly summarize, I’m going to use the same basic dough for these Chocolate Turtle Cookies that I used for those cookies. I used an unbleached all-purpose flour with 10% protein and weighed the flour. I also do not suggest substituting margarine or anything else besides real butter and I also do not suggest using a whole egg rather than the egg yolks. If you do any substitutions, just know that your results will vary greatly.
Baking is a science and if you change one thing, everything else can be off. You can double or multiply the basic dough recipe and make both the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, this Chocolate Turtle Cookie recipe, as well as the recipes I have coming up soon. Just divide the basic dough between bowls then add your add-ins and other ingredients.
I also suggest you refrigerate the finished cookie dough for a few hours but better overnight or up to 2-3 days. You can also make the finished cookie dough, ball it up, and freeze the balls in plastic bags for a few months then take out what you need and bake for fresh cookies anytime!!!
I used Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose flour and weighed it. It has a 10% protein content. You can find good kitchen scales all over, but this one is from Williams-Sonoma. It wasn’t that expensive and works just fine.
Whisk all the dry ingredients together and set aside.
Mix the sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla for a few minutes until well combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Once the basic dough is done, time to turn these into the turtle cookies. Add the melted chocolate to the dough.
Mix the dough until just combined.
Then add your chocolate chips, pecans, and caramel bits. The caramel bits come in an 11oz. bag and made by Kraft. You can usually find them in the baking aisle near the different nuts and chips.
Scoop the dough out and place on lined baking sheets. I like to put dough balls on silpats but you could use parchment or wax paper for this. An ice cream scoop works great for scooping! Cover the cookies with plastic wrap, then refrigerate for at least a few hours, but better yet, overnight or up to 2-3 days.
OR you can not cover the dough balls and place the sheets in the freezer and after a few hours when the dough is hard, place the cookie dough balls in resealable bags and freeze for up to a few months. Then you can pull out what you need when you need it. As long as you keep the cookie dough balls frozen they will not stick together!
Bake up your cookies! The colder they are the longer they will take to bake so you may have to adjust the baking time. You can bake the dough right from the freezer or you can place the dough in the refrigerator overnight to defrost. The chocolate chip cookies may be a little more “puffy” if baking right from the freezer and not spread as much but they’ll still taste great!
These cookies are so decadent and ooey-gooey right out of the oven! I could eat a whole pan of cookies right out of the oven! They would also be great topped with ice cream or in sundaes!!!
Hope you enjoy!
Chocolate Turtle Cookies
Ingredients
Basic Dough:
- 14.42 ounces all-purpose flour (408.75 g or about 3 cups + 6 1/2 tablespoons) unbleached all-purpose (10%protein) flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 7.62 ounces light brown sugar (216g or about 1 cup + 2 tablespoons)
- 5.93 ounces granulated sugar (168g or 3/4cup + 2 tablespoons)
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted & cooled (2 sticks)
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Add-ins:
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate melted & cooled
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cups pecans chopped & toasted
- 11 ounces caramel bits
Instructions
- In large bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and baking soda until well combined; set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, beat together brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Add egg, egg yolks, and vanilla, and beat until well combined.
- Beat flour mixture into wet mixture until combined. Stir in melted chocolate, then stir in chocolate chips, pecans, and caramel bits. Drop dough (or use ice cream scoop) in 2 tablespoon balls on baking sheets that have been lined with silpats (or parchment paper or wax paper).
- Cover cookie dough balls with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough for at least a few hours but better overnight or up to a few days. Or do not cover dough and place dough balls in freezer for a few hours until dough is hard then place balls in resealable bags and back in freezer.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place cookie dough balls in batches on baking sheets that have been lined with parchment paper (or silpats). Bake refrigerated dough for about 15-18 minutes or until golden brown and look slightly undercooked (about 17-22 minutes for frozen dough), turning pans halfway through baking. Cool cookies on wire racks.
Notes
Nutrition:
(Nutrition data is provided when available for informational purposes only and calculated using an online nutritional calculator. For the most accurate information please calculate based on specific ingredients and brands you use as well as any changes you made to the recipe. I am not a certified nutritionist or registered dietician and any nutritional information provided should only be used as a general guideline and estimate.)
Bev says
Can you use all purpose flour without messing up the recipe? I don’t usually buy unbleached flour. The cookies look great and the recipe sound delicious
Lisa Huff says
Either bleached or unbleached all-purpose flour should work ok.
Disappointed says
I made these cookies last night… but either I did something wrong or the recipe is just not for me. They were super greasy, heavy, and bland. Also they didn’t flatten or bake down at all and came out looking like little brown dung piles. I want my pecans back!!!
Lisa Huff says
Sorry they didn’t turn out for you. I just made a batch recently and they turned out fine. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what you might have done wrong. If you used different ingredients or substituted some things your results may have been quite different.
Simply Tia says
I’m sitting in a puddle of drool. These cookies look so yummy!
snappygourmet says
Thanks! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Jesica @ Pencil Kitchen says
Lovely recipe ! :)
snappygourmet says
Thanks!
Laura/Readerwoman says
Oh. My. These sound fabulous. My grandsons will be visiting the week after Christmas – I bet they’d love these!
snappygourmet says
Thanks Laura, hope your grandsons enjoy the turtle cookies!