Chocolate + caramel + pecans = one of my favorite things ever. Earlier this summer I baked pecan turtle cupcakes, and within a few weeks these turtle cookies from The First Year Blog came across my Pinterest feed. They looked amazing in the photo…but when I baked them, wow. The photo you see here is of one of the very few that didn’t turn out to look like a total mutant. See below for the mutants, they’re actually quite entertaining. Also, there’s no Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pun intended here, but haha.
What happens is that the caramel pieces melt, then explode out of the cookies at whatever random point they see fit. One of my cookies looked like the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, which was actually pretty cool. Anyway…these treats are insanely delicious, but really, really rich. If I make them again, I’ll use caramel bits instead of chopping up caramel squares (how much does caramel stick to a knife? Too much, thanks.) and will use a one-inch cookie scoop so they’re smaller, just a few bites each.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 8 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped caramel squares, or caramel bits
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, stir together chocolate chips, chopped caramel pieces, and chopped pecans; set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside.
Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Add in flour mixture and beat on low to combine; stir in chocolate chip/caramel/pecan mixture.
Scoop dough using a two-inch cookie scoop and roll into balls; place about two inches apart on baking sheets and bake for 10-14 minutes; tops will crack, but edges will be set. Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheets for about 4-5 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 21.
Mutant cookies! Check out the Millennium Falcon on at the top.
amy bakes in the 'burgh 