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You are here: Home / A to Z Recipe Index / Homemade Gourmet Turtles Recipe (Caramel, Pecan, and Chocolate Clusters)

Homemade Gourmet Turtles Recipe (Caramel, Pecan, and Chocolate Clusters)

By -Tam | Food Apparel 8 Comments

These Homemade Turtles (caramel, pecan, and chocolate clusters) are a timeless classic for the chocolate box.

`Homemade Turtles Recipe (Caramel, Pecan, and Chocolate Clusters) . Completes any chocolate box! @foodapparel

Spent the first 19 years of my life as a pecan hater.  No, really I did.

Then at my first meeting of the in-laws, my husbands grandpa busted out a huge variety of pecans that he had harvested.  Having already offended his grandma by not eating her breakfast sausage, I dug right into his sweet gift.  Man, were they delicious.

Homemade Turtles Recipe (Caramel, Pecan, and Chocolate Clusters) . Completes any chocolate box! @foodapparel

So here I am 9 years later, a huge pecan lover, especially when in the form of turtles. Who can resist that combination of pecan, soft caramel, and of course, a little chocolate to top ’em off?  Store-bought turtles often seem to disappoint me though.  So I spent the last eight Christmas seasons trying to recreate my first Christmas as a pecan lover.

First, this recipe is hands down my favorite when I use my soft homemade caramels, slightly undercooking them to keep the caramel extra soft and smooth. Complete the combo with perfectly nutty toasted pecans, and dark chocolate.  If you don’t dare make the homemade caramel, or are in a time crunch, melt your caramels with a little cream to soften them up.

Homemade Turtles Recipe (Caramel, Pecan, and Chocolate Clusters) . Completes any chocolate box! @foodapparel

`Homemade Turtles Recipe (Caramel, Pecan, and Chocolate Clusters) . Completes any chocolate box! @foodapparel
5 from 1 vote
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Homemade Turtles (Caramel, Pecan, and Chocolate Clusters)

Course Candy, Dessert
Cuisine Gourmet
Servings 24 turtles
Author Tammy Blankenship

Ingredients

  • 1 batch homemade soft caramels cooked to 4 degrees less than called for in the recipe, or 24 store bought caramels
  • 100 pecan halves toasted
  • 1 to 2 bags dark chocolate chips 10.5 ounce bags
  • Fleur de sel optional

Instructions

  1. If using store bought caramels that are not super soft, melt with 2-4 tablespoons of heavy cream in the microwave.
  2. Cool until you can roll into balls.
  3. Place the tips of four toasted pecans together so they make a square with their inner tips, creating the "legs".
  4. Squish a 2 teaspoon-sized caramel ball on top to connect all four pecans.
  5. Place pecan/caramel cluster in freezer for about 15 minutes.
  6. Melt chocolate over double-boiler, or on half temperature in microwave until smooth.
  7. Pick up caramel/pecan cluster, drizzle chocolate on bottom, and flip back over onto frozen pan. Drizzle chocolate on top to cover the other side of caramel.
  8. Repeat until the other clusters have chocolate on top and bottom.
  9. Sprinkle with fleur de sel if desired.
  10. Let sit until chocolate sets.

Look at this hunk of caramel just calling your name……

Homemade Turtles Recipe (Caramel, Pecan, and Chocolate Clusters) . Completes any chocolate box! @foodapparel

Cutting……

Homemade Turtles Recipe (Caramel, Pecan, and Chocolate Clusters) . Completes any chocolate box! @foodapparel

Drooling……(and the chocolate’s not even on there yet!)

Homemade Turtles Recipe (Caramel, Pecan, and Chocolate Clusters) . Completes any chocolate box! @foodapparel

Pecan lover? You’ll want to check out these other sweet treat pecan recipes:

Chocolate Drizzled Pecan Pie Bars: Tastes like the pie, Eats like a cookie! #recipe @Food Apparel

Chocolate-Drizzled Pecan Pie Bars

Mississippi Mud Cake at FoodApparel.com

Mississippi Mud Cake

Honey Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns at FoodApparel.com

Honey Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns

Orange Pecan Biscotti on FoodApparel.com

Orange Pecan Biscotti

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-Tam | Food Apparel

I'm Tammy and I love to be in the kitchen! I'm married and have three little tagalongs who love to help out with the food prep. My secret foodie dream is to open a bakery. Want to know more about me? Go here for a little Q&A.

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Filed Under: A to Z Recipe Index, Candies, Christmas, Holidays, Sweets & Treats Tagged With: candy, caramel, chocolate, christmas, gourmet style, holidays, pecan, turtles

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Gourmet Hot Chocolate Mix Recipe »

Comments

  1. Jessika Reed says

    December 4, 2014 at 2:24 pm

    Pecans are heavenly! These look great!

    Reply
  2. Tiffany says

    December 5, 2014 at 8:25 am

    Yes!! Tis the season for all these homemade goodies! 🙂

    Reply
    • Food Apparel says

      December 5, 2014 at 9:55 pm

      Amen to that! Especially of the chocolate variety…..

      Reply
  3. Olive O'Sudden says

    January 13, 2016 at 12:27 am

    Question: When you say you under-cook your Soft Caramels recipe for making the turtles, what temperature do you bring the caramel to?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Food Apparel says

      March 30, 2016 at 1:34 pm

      Olive – sorry for the late response. So hard to say exact temperature because depends on your altitude. You want it to be right between softball and firmball stage so they are nice and soft but not oozing out everywhere. Standard for our caramels is about 248 degrees F (this is low end of firmball and is accounted for at sea level), and we recommend for the turtles to go about 3-4 degrees lower. For every 1000 feet about sea level, you need to deduct about 1-2 degrees temperature to reach the appropriate stage as well. For example – we are about 4500 ft altitude, so we actually cook the caramels to about 242-244 degrees F. We would do right around 238-240 degrees F for the turtles where we are located. Here’s a handy chart that will help as well. http://whatscookingamerica.net/Candy/candytemp.htm. If at all doubtful, do the cold water test. Hope this helps!

      Reply
  4. Lisa says

    November 2, 2016 at 5:47 pm

    Is it better to make homemade carnal or melt car male already made to make pecan turtles???

    Reply
    • Food Apparel says

      November 14, 2016 at 9:51 am

      Lisa, I love making homemade caramel for these because I feel like the flavor is always better, but if you are wanting something faster, or are new to caramel making and want a foolproof method, you could definitely use pre-made. You can buy little caramels, or you can even buy caramel in blocks from boutique cooking supply stores. Peter’s is a popular brand for that type.

      Reply

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  1. Homemade Turtle Recipes - Homemade Turtles - Averie Cooks says:
    October 3, 2020 at 10:17 pm

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