Turtle Cookies
These festive turtle cookies are the perfect Christmas treat! Inspired by turtle candies, buttery shortbread is baked with pecan halves and topped with a simple caramel and dollop of chocolate. It’s like millionaire shortbread meets turtle chocolates. But above all, they’re just so cute!
Turtle Shortbread Tips
These cookies taste as good as they look! They’re made with a buttery shortbread dough that’s sliced thick, creating a tender and melt-in-your-mouth bake. To ensure yours turn out moist and NOT dry, follow these tips:
- Butter – Make sure your butter is room temperature, NOT soft. When pressed, room temperature butter will leave an imprint of your finger but still have some resistance to it. With soft butter, your finger will sink in with minimal effort. Using room temperature will prevent the dough from turning too sticky, thus difficult to handle.
- Flour – I say this all the time, but use a scale if you can. Otherwise, spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off with a flat edge. Never scoop directly into the container or bag of flour as this will pack it down into the cup.
- Cornstarch – Don’t skip this ingredient! Not only does it help thicken the dough, but it creates a soft texture once the cookies are baked.
- Egg Yolks – Use cold egg yolks to help cool the dough! If the dough is too warm, it’s difficult to shape.
- Mixing – Use a mixer to work in the flour as much as possible, but careful not to OVER mix. By removing the bowl from the mixer and finishing the mix by hand, this will allow you to create a homogenous dough without overworking.
How to Bake Turtle Cookies
Once the dough has chilled for at least 2 hours, these cookies are ready to bake! Slice each log into 12 cookies, about 1/4″ thick.
Place the cookies on the baking sheet, spacing each about an inch apart. Now, select 5 pecan halves per cookie. Try to grab pecans of similar size and that aren’t broken. Carefully press them down into the cookie in a star shape. Press just enough for them to stick, but do not press too hard to where the dough warms and moves.
Once all the pecans are stuck on, these cookies are ready to bake. When they’re done, they’ll look puffed with very spaced out pecans but don’t worry! The pecans will shrink back in towards each other once the cookies have cooled.
Carefully transfer the warm cookies to a cooling rack. I use the word “carefully” because the pecans will be a little loose on top when the cookies are still warm. However, the pecans will stick down once the cookies have cooled. This is because they’re very buttery when warm so once that butter sets, the pecans stick like glue.
Turtle Caramel – so easy to make!
This caramel is SO simple, even if you’re intimidated by candy making. We’re esssentially just making a batch of homemade caramels but instead of pouring and slicing them, we’re dolloping it on top of each cookie.
First, melt down the butter. Then vigorously whisk in the rest of the ingredients to ensure the caramel is nice and smooth. The corn syrup will help prevent crystallization, so it’s essentially a fool proof recipe!
Now the important part – keep whisking until the mixture reaches 235F or the soft ball stage. This is the temperature in which the caramel will hold its shape while still remaining nice and soft. Use a candy thermometer or whatever food thermometer you have on hand.
Once it reaches that temperature, immediately remove from heat and mix in the vanilla. The caramel will appear very thin and at this temperature, it’s too warm to hold its shape on these cookies. So set a timer for 10 minutes to allow it to cool and thicken.
When it’s ready, the caramel will be soft and scoop-able but not thin and runny. Using two spoons, scrape about 1 tablespoon worth of caramel onto the center of each cookie. It will slowly melt into the cookie without dripping down the sides. Once completely cooled, it will hold a nice soft shape!
Turtle Cookies FAQs:
The dough needs at least two hours, but it can chill for up to 2 days.
It likely didn’t reach the right temperature! Or it’s too warm. If you know it reached 235F, then it should set. So this likely means the caramel is still too warm and needs to cool for a few more minutes before trying again.
Sure! Just stick on some cashews instead of pecans before baking.
Absolutely. That would bascially just make a Twix or millionaire’s shortbread cookie which is also delicious!
I haven’t tested it, but you can try swapping the all-purpose flour with a cup for cup gluten-free baking flour.
Once the chocolate on top has set, store the cookies in a container in the refrigerator. They’ll keep for about 5 days.
For more Christmas cookie recipes, check out my:
- Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
- BEST Gingerbread Cookies
- Blossom Cookies
- Peppermint Bark Cookies
- Perfect Cut Out Sugar Cookies
- Slice and Bake Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
Turtle Cookies
- Total Time: 44 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies
Description
These turtle cookies are just like the candy version, but made on top of a buttery slice of shortbread! Slice and bake cookie dough is topped with pecan halves before baking. Then, each cookie is topped with a dollop of homemade soft caramel and a swirl of melted chocolate. Finish with flaky sea salt for a perfectly balanced cookie!
Ingredients
Shortbread Cookies
- 1 cup (224g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) light brown sugar, packed
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 cups + 2 tbsp (275g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- Roughly 2 cups pecan halves
Caramel Topping
- 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter, sliced
- 1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup (85g) corn syrup
- 1/3 cup (100g) sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted
- Flaky sea salt, for finishing
Instructions
Shortbread Cookies
- In a large bowl using a hand or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugars on medium-high speed for 1 minute or until light and creamy.
- Then mix in the salt, egg yolks, and vanilla. Scrape down the bowl, add the cornstarch, and mix again until completely smooth.
- Mix in the flour on medium-low speed until mostly combined. Then remove the bowl from the mixer and bring the dough together by hand using a rubber spatula. Fold until the dough is all one color and all dry ingredients are fully blended in.
- Scoop the dough out with your hands and mold it into one large ball. It should be slightly sticky but easy to handle.
- Split the dough in half and on a clean work surface, roll each half into a 7 ½ inch long log. Wrap each in plastic wrap and store standing up the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- When ready, preheat the oven to 350F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Working with one roll at a time, keeping the other in the refrigerator until ready, slice the log into 12 cookies (about 1/4” thick), and place on the baking sheet spaced an inch apart from each other.
- Press 5 pecan halves into each cookie to form a star shape (like you would making turtle candies, see photo in post for reference).
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until puffed with set edges. Cool on the pan for a couple minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Be careful as the pecans will be loose on the warm cookies, but will stick once the cookies have cooled. Continue baking the other log.
Caramel
- Once the cookies have cooled, make the caramel.
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Then thoroughly whisk in the brown sugar, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk, and salt. Whisk occasionally until it reaches 235°F on your candy thermometer, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla. Set aside for 10 minutes to thicken.
- Using two spoons, scoop about 1 tablespoon of caramel onto each cookie. Cool for 10 minutes.
- Spoon about 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate onto each cookie, swirling the top. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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Meet Jenna
I’m the creator, baker, and photographer behind Butternut Bakery. Here I share desserts for every diet because I believe everyone should have a chance to indulge!
