Salted Caramel Turtle Thumbprint Cookies
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Salted Caramel Turtle Thumbprint Cookies combine the complementary flavors of flaky sea salt, creamy caramel, rich chocolate, crunchy nuts, and a buttery cookie base! Not only are these turtle cookies totally eye-catching—they’re also favorites of all generations. Make these for your next Christmas cookie exchange!
If you’re going to add caramel you may as well salt it, right? I still haven’t gotten my brother and sister to like salted caramel but one of these days I know it’s going to happen. They must have strange taste buds.
I’ve been posting cookies like crazy, but tis the season! Besides you can never have too many cookie recipes. And this one, you just can’t do without.
Chocolate Turtle Cookies
I love that these have all the flavors of chocolate turtles but they’re in chewy cookie form. These fancy and decadent chocolate cookies are sure to be a holiday pleaser with young and old alike. Plus, kids love helping with the “thumbprint” step of the recipe!
That little hint of salt and finishing drizzle of melted chocolate adds the perfect gourmet touch. You’ll think these were purchased from a fancy bakery—not whipped up in your own kitchen.
Because of how decadent and delicious these Salted Caramel Turtle Thumbprint cookies taste, people will think a lot more work went into them than actually did (the store-bought soft caramel candies make for a nice shortcut). They’re nearly as easy as your basic chocolate chip cookies but are far more impressive! Happy Holidays and Enjoy!
Christmas Cookies to Try
The holidays are the perfect time to whip up a new recipe for a cookie exchange, class party, or neighbor gifts. Save a few of these recipes to try this holiday season:
- M&M Christmas Cookies
- Italian Ricotta Christmas Cookies
- Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies
- Eggnog Cookies
- Peppermint White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Snowball Cookies
- Frosted Peppermint Brownie Cookies
Follow Cooking Classy
Salted Caramel Turtle Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 1 large egg , yolk and white separated
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp buttermilk
- 1 1/4 cups finely chopped pecans
- 15 caramels (such as Kraft)
- 2 1/2 Tbsp heavy cream
- Flaky or coarse sea salt
- 3 oz chopped milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips , or chopped chocolate
- 2 tsp shortening
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium-high spread until slightly pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg yolk (set egg white aside in a bowl in refrigerator) and vanilla extract.
- Blend in buttermilk. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
- Shape dough into a ball and drop onto a sheet of plastic wrap, flatten dough into a 6-inch disk then wrap with plastic wrap and chill 45 minutes, until slightly firm (or up to 1 day. If chilling longer than a few hours, I'd recommend letting the dough rest a room temperature a bit so the dough isn't too firm and cracking when making indentations).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove egg white from refrigerator and whisk vigorously until frothy. Place finely chopped pecans in a bowl.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls (18 grams each) then working with one at a time, drop into egg white and roll to evenly coat the lift and allow excess egg white to run off and immediately place in bowl with chopped pecans and roll to evenly coat (if necessary, you can gently press into the nuts to help them stick).
- Transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheets and make a deep indentation with thumb in the center of each dough ball.
- Bake in preheated oven until set, about 10 - 12 minutes. Remove from oven then using the bottom of a rounded teaspoon, gently press down on existing indentation (to create more space for caramel). Cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the topping:
- Place caramels and heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl. Heat mixture in microwave on HIGH power in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth. Spoon caramel into indentation in cookies and sprinkle tops with a small pinch of sea salt.
- Place chocolate and shortening into a separate microwave safe mixing bowl. Heat mixture on 50% power in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until melted and smooth. Pour into a piping bag or ziplog bag and cut tip of corner. Drizzle over cookies. Allow to set then store in an airtight container.
Notes
