Get ready to impress with this easy Turtle Thumbprint Cookies recipe!
Decadent chocolate cookies rolled in pecans and filled with soft caramel make any cookie tray look extra special!
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I am seriously in the cookie making mood lately. Bryce got a beagle cookie jar for his birthday and he’s been asking to fill it up almost every day. We have so many cookies recipe that we love to make but these Turtle Thumbprint cookies are something special.
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Not only are they gorgeous and oh-so delicious, but the boys love to help make them!
This recipe is terrific in that you can have little helpers for almost every step and that can’t really mess anything up 🙂 The cookies are just beautiful and would be perfect to bring to any party this holiday season and simple enough that you can easily make up a batch for your family any night of the week. I love the classic “turtle”combination of caramel, pecans, and chocolate – it just doesn’t get any better than this!
Their favorite part is making the indentions in the cookie dough. Now, f you have a helper with smaller fingers, you may want to secretly use your thumb or else there won’t be a lot of room for the caramel and that, my friends, would be a catastrophe.
Aren’t these the prettiest cookies EVER??? And by the way, these cookies aren’t just pretty on the outside, they’re quite yummy on the inside 🙂
- 1 egg, divided
- ½ c butter, room temperature
- ⅔ c sugar
- 2 Tbls milk
- 1 Tbls vanilla
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 16 caramels
- 3 Tbls heavy whipping cream
- 1¼ cups chopped pecans
- 1 tsp shortening
- ½ c semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add sugar and continue beating until combined and creamy. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla and beat until well combined.
- Sift flour, cocoa powder, and salt together in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture a little at a time {trying to avoid a cocoa cloud - quite messy!} and beat until well combined.
- Wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap and chill for a couple hours.
- Chop the pecans pretty fine...
- Enlist helpers to unwrap the caramels.
- Heat unwrapped caramels and whipping cream in a small saucepan over low heat until nice and smooth.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll the balls in slightly beaten egg white. Then roll in pecans until coated. Reece did an entire tray all by himself and he's six. Bryce's balls were not exactly round per se, but who cares!
- Place balls on a lightly greased cookie sheet about one inch apart. Use your thumb to press in the center, making an indention.
- If you have a helper with smaller fingers, you may want to secretly use your thumb or else there won't be a lot of room for the caramel and that, my friends, would be a catastrophe.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are set. If the indention has disappeared during baking, use a measuring spoon to re-create the indention. {I actually used a carrot - LOL!}
- Spoon caramel mixture into the center of the cookies and remove to a wire rack and let cool. {If the caramel has thickened too much, just reheat on low until it reaches a thinner consistency.}
- Be careful not to overfill the cookies...
- Once the cookies have cooled, melt chocolate chips and shortening in microwave by heating in 15 second intervals, stirring in between.
- Drizzle the chocolate over the tops of the cookies and get ready to enjoy!
Some of my favorite cookie recipes:
Reese’s Freezer-Friendly Oatmeal Cookies
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Have a great day!
Anne says
Could I use Vegetable oil or butter in place of shortening when melting the choco chips? Would it be same amount? Can’t wait to make these.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Coconut oil works great and butter should too but they would need to be refrigerated.