Homemade Chocolate Turtles — 😋🙌 Fast, easy, no-bake and just 4 ingredients! Chewy, gooey, salty-and-sweet! Homemade always tastes better! Yum!!
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Easy Homemade Turtle Candy
These homemade turtles candies are no-bake, easy, ready in under a half hour, and you only need 4 ingredients.
Some Turtles in the photos below are coated with milk chocolate and others with dark. On some, I sprinkled sea salt to play up the salty-and-sweet aspect. On some I drizzled milk chocolate over a dark chocolate-coated Turtle and vice versa.
Between the salty-and-sweet component, the crunchy pecans, chewy and gooey caramel, and the rich chocolate, they’re hard to resist.
Save this recipe for holiday candy-making, birthdays, or for a last-minute hostess gift. Or just hoard them all for yourself.
Ingredients in Chocolate Turtles
To make these homemade turtle candies, you’ll need the following:
- Pecan halves – I used Trader Joe’s roasted, salted pecan halves
- Caramel squares – I recommend Kraft or Werther’s brand baking caramels
- Heavy cream – or half and half
- Chocolate – milk or dark
- Sea salt – optional
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Chocolate Turtles From Scratch
Chocolate pecan turtles are simple to prepare and requires no baking! Here’s a look at how the chocolate turtles are made:
- Make piles of about 5 pecans each and top each pile with caramel sauce.
- Melt 25 caramel squares with 1/4 cup cream in the microwave (or use the stove).
- After topping each pecan pile with caramel, cover with melted chocolate.
- Optionally sprinkle with sea salt, then let rest until firm.
Tip for Melting Caramel Squares
Take your time and stop and stir frequently so you don’t burn the mixture and have to start over. The caramel sauce is runny and loose when you first take it out of the microwave, but firms up quite a bit as it cools.
Recipe FAQs
I used Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Bars because they melt smoother and easier than chocolate chips. You may use semi-sweet, milk, or dark chocolate. Pick your favorite!
You’ll want to chop up chocolate bars for this recipe rather than use chocolate chips. Chocolate chips don’t melt as well and can seize up in the microwave.
Yes, but caramel turtles are traditionally made with pecan halves. However, roasted peanuts or almonds would also taste delicious here!
You want to buy soft, individually wrapped caramel candies (not hard caramels). I’ve made the chocolate turtles recipe with both Kraft brand caramels and Werther’s Baking Caramels and can recommend both.
No! Caramel sauce will never firm up like the melted caramel squares do. Caramel sauce will remain runny and the turtles will fall apart as soon as you try to pick them up.
Store the pecan turtles at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.
I adore this recipe and have made it several times at the holidays. Thanks for sharing! — Kim
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Homemade Turtles
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pecan halves, I used roasted, lightly salted
- 25 caramel squares, unwrapped (about 1 heaping cup)
- ¼ cup cream or half-and-half, divided
- about 16 ounces roughly chopped chocolate, melted (I used 8 ounces dark and 8 ounces milk, both Trader Joe’s Pound Plus bars)
- sea salt, optional for sprinkling
Instructions
- Line two baking sheets or large platters with parchment paper. It’s helpful if they will fit in either fridge or freezer.
- Make small piles of pecans, using 5 to 6 pieces per pile. Overlap the pecans some to reduce gaps so the caramel doesn’t seep through.
- In a medium microwave-safe bowl, add the caramels, half of the cream (reserve the remainder), and heat on high power to melt. It will probably take about 3 to 4 minutes total, but you must stop and stir the mixture every 30 seconds so you don’t burn it. Alternatively, you can melt caramels on the stove over low heat, using caution and stirring frequently. **(see notes below on melting the caramels)
- Add about 1 tablespoon caramel to the top of each pecan pile; set aside.
- In a medium microwave-safe bowl, add 8 ounces chocolate and heat to melt, about 1 minute on high power. Heat in 15-second increments until chocolate can be stirred smooth. I prefer working in smaller batches with chocolate and recommend doing the same and not heating all 16 ounces at once; melt additional chocolate as necessary.
- Add about 2 tablespoons chocolate to the top of each pecan cluster by dolloping it on top and letting it fall down the sides.
- Optionally add a pinch of sea salt to each Turtle.
- Allow Turtles to firm up at room temp (will take many hours) or in the fridge or freezer (about 15 minutes) before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Holiday Special K Bars — Super chewy, gooey, FAST, easy, no-bake cereal bars loaded with peanut butter, chocolate, and sprinkles!! Like scotcheroos but with Special K!
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls — EASY, NO-BAKE chocolate peanut butter balls that are a holiday favorite!! They have it all: Salty, sweet, crunchy, with chocolate and peanut butter! Great for cookie exchanges or impromptu parties!!
great
What the hell do you do with the other half of the cream?
Read the NOTES underneath the recipe.
They came out good, but I had to double the amount of caramels I used. So if you use the Werther’s Soft Caramels keep that in mind when making them :)
They came out good, but I had to double the amount of caramels I used. So if you use the Werther’s Soft Caramels keep that in mind when making them :)
It can really vary depending on how many nuts you use, how “spread out” the nuts are, etc. but glad that they came out good!
I tried these out (I know they will taste delicious) but the only thing is, that the process was difficult. The caramel slid off the pecans (not the chocolate) so make sure the caramel is smooth and not runny. That was my mistake that made this difficult. Other than that, I applaud the recipe and the baker behind the recipe! Bravo!