Caramel Pecan Turtle Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

by Jennifer // July 12, 2021 // 293 Comments

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A few weeks ago I realized why chocolate turtles are called chocolate turtles. It turns out, my time working in a specialty chocolate store for several years throughout high school, during which I routinely unpacked, shelved, re-packaged, and sold chocolate turtles, did not enlighten me to the fact that chocolate turtles, a candy made from caramel, pecans or walnuts, and chocolate, are all-too-clearly formed in the shape of a turtle, backed by a chocolate turtle shell and all.

https://www.smalltownwoman.com/chocolate-pecan-caramel-turtles/

The chocolate turtle had been to me like one of those optical illusions with the hidden pictures that you stared at in the dentist’s office waiting room when you were waiting for your semi-annual fluoride treatment. How many times did I handle chocolate turtles, wondering fleetingly why they were called chocolate turtles, assuming that the popular salty-sweet treats were just randomly-clustered blobs of nuts, caramel, and chocolate? It was only when I embarked on my chocolate turtle research for this very recipe, that the image of the turtle finally popped out at me among the confectionary optical illusion blob. I continually mind-boggle myself with all that I do not know.

Anyway, now that I had better educated myself on the chocolate turtle, it was finally go time for my latest cookie bar recipe: the Caramel Pecan Turtle Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar. For this cookie bar, my favorite chewy, chocolaty chocolate chip cookie base is covered with a thick layer of caramel and crushed pecans. After baking, additional chocolate chips are added, followed by a final drizzle of caramel. Though the flavors are inspired by the chocolate-shelled, reptile-inspired dessert, these bars certainly don’t look like chocolate turtles, so I don’t want you to get too excited. But, as I already have known for the past decade since I first dabbled in the chocolate turtle arena back at Sweet Tooth, you don’t need it to look like a turtle in order for it to taste like a turtle, even if it does look like a turtle (but you don’t know if it’s a turtle). Ya know?