Homemade chocolate turtles

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 2

Toast and chop pecans: spread pecans out onto a baking sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes, stirring once, until toasted and fragrant (but not burned!). (Alternately, you can heat them in a hot skillet stirring constantly until they are fragrant, about 5 minutes). Once cooled, roughly chop the pecans and set aside.

Step 3

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat liner. Set aside.

Step 4

Microwave Caramel: Place butter in a large microwave safe bowl and heat in microwave until melted. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and corn syrup and stir well to combine. Return bowl to microwave and cook mixture on HIGH power for about 6-8 minutes, or until it reaches about 235 degrees on an instant read thermometer, or use the ice water bath test.

Step 5

(For Ice bath test, spoon a small spoonful of the caramel into a cup of ice water. Use your fingers to pinch the caramel—it should come together into a soft ball. If it won't come together to form a ball in your fingers, return it to the microwave for an additional 30 seconds, and test again.)

Step 6

Use hot pads to carefully remove the bowl from the microwave. Stir vanilla into hot caramel. Stir in chopped pecans.

Step 7

Form Turtles: Drop large spoonfuls of the mixture onto the parchment paper lined baking sheet to create individual mounds of caramel candy. (I usually get about 20, but you can make the candies as small or large as you like). Refrigerate until set, about 20 minutes.

Step 8

Melt almond bark or chocolate in microwave )or use a double boiler), stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth.

Step 9

Dip: Drop a pecan cluster into the melted chocolate and use a fork to coat it all over. Lift the cluster up with a fork, and tap it several times to allow excess chocolate to fall through the tines of the fork, into the bowl. Place dipped clusters on the parchment paper to set up.

Step 10

Store turtles in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.