Homemade Chocolate Turtles
An easy recipe for turtle candy.
Servings 12 turtles
Cost 5
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups pecan halves
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened (56 grams)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (100 grams)
- ⅓ cup condensed milk (this is about ¼ of a 14 oz can) 3.5 oz/99 grams)
- 3 tablespoons light corn syrup (60 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla
- 5 ounces chocolate for coating (or more)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lay the pecans flat on a sheet pan and bake for 8 minutes or just until the pecans are fragrant and start to release their oils. Remove from the oven and let cool. Chop ½ cup of the pecans and set aside the rest of the halves which you'll use to make heads, feet and arms.
- Line a 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. You'll be dropping caramel circles onto these sheets, so even though there are only 6 turtles per sheet, you need room for the caramel to spread. Have ready a small but deep mixing bowl or a 2 cup glass measure. You will be pouring the caramel into this.
- In a heavy 1 ½ to 2 quart lidded saucepan, off heat, mix together the very soft butter, brown sugar, condensed milk, corn syrup and salt. Stir until evenly blended.
- Set the saucepan over medium low heat and bring to a simmer, uncovered, stirring often. When mixture is at a good simmer, put the lid on the saucepan for 1 minute to steam clean the sides of the pan. Remove lid and insert a deep fry thermometer, balancing so that the bulb is in the center but not touching the bottom. Allow mixture to boil gently, without stirring, until it reaches soft ball stage. It's normal to see little brown bits forming.
- Right as it hits soft ball stage (no higher), remove from heat and pour into a clean mixing bowl. Do not scrape the sides of the saucepan, just pour the candy in. There shouldn't be a lot of candy sticking to the bottom of the saucepan, but if there is you can scrape the bottom only.
- Add vanilla and chopped nuts (or leave the chopped nuts out if you prefer) to the caramel in the bowl (or glass measuring cup). Stir until caramel is thick enough so that it doesn't run all over the place when you pour or spoon the circles. I usually spoon a few too soon and have a couple of really flat Turtles.
- When you feel the caramel is thick enough, spoon or pour little rounds of caramel onto the baking sheet, spacing as evenly as possible. You should aim for 12 to 15 little rounds of caramel.
- Using the remaining pecan halves, poke a head and 4 legs into each caramel to resemble a turtle.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave using 50% power and stirring every 30 seconds. Alternatively, you can use a double boiler. Spoon melted chocolate over the turtles, covering the caramel completely.
- Put the tray with the turtles in the refrigerator or freezer until chocolate is set and caramel is firm.
- Store in a freezer bag in the freezer.
