My Adventures...: Turtle Cookies & Doggy Haircuts

It seems like it's been forever since I last posted... and considering how recently I've been posting lately... it kind of has been. Last week I had a pretty nasty cold, so all of my time typically spent blogging, I spent curled up on the couch with tissues and cough drops. Thankfully, the germs had mostly subsided by the end of the week and I actually got to have a fun and productive weekend. I cleaned the house and tried out some fun new recipes! My dog, a very hairy little guy, got his summer haircut! (See bottom of the post for funny before and afters!)

I stumbled across this recipe for turtle cookies while I was surfing the internet. The picture alone hooked me, I'm a sucker for caramel. The directions didn't seem to difficult, so I figured I'd give them a shot and they turned out SO GOOD! Thankfully, the batch only makes about 20 cookies... these could be dangerous en masse.

Ingredients

Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg separated, plus additional egg white

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1 & 1/2 cups pecans, finely chopped

Caramel Filling

14 soft caramel candies

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions...

The dough is pretty easy to make.

First, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Takes about 2-3 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla extract, then mix until incorporated. Add dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, salt) and mix until just combined. Dough will be very thick. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour or until dough is firm and scoop-able.

Make sure your hands are nice and clean. Roll dough into 1 to 1 & 1/2 inch balls,

depending on how big you want your cookies to be.

Beat both egg whites in a small bowl until they're frothy.

This will be the "glue" that holds the pecan pieces to the cookie.

Dip the dough ball into the egg white and make sure it's fully coated before rolling in pecan pieces.

Place on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. They won't spread much.

Using your thumb or the round part of a tablespoon, create a crater in the middle of each dough ball. This will help flatten out the cookie and will provide a place for the caramel after baking.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until they have firmed up.

Don't rely on the color changing to tell if they're done.

I used the time while they were baking to prepare the caramel filling in the microwave.

Put heavy cream and caramel candies into a small bowl and heat for 30 second intervals until hot and smooth when you stir it.

After removing from the oven, remake the crater in each cookie with the back of a tablespoon.
You won't want to use your finger this time, because they're going to be HOT! :)

Use a small spoon (I used a teaspoon-sized measuring spoon)
to pour caramel into the crater in each cookie.