Dark Chocolate Turtle Cookies

 

A while back I found out about these amazing caramel filled chocolate chips.  As you probably know by now, I L-O-V-E caramel so to find an easy way to put caramel into my baked goods was a pretty exciting moment for me.  

I picked up a bag the next time I was at the store, but it took me a while to figure out their inaugural recipe.  After going back and forth I finally decided to make a chocolate turtle cookie.  I started with the same cookie base that I used in my Double Dark Chocolate Creme de Menthe Cookies.  I swapped the peppermint extract for vanilla and changed my mix-ins to make these turtle cookies instead of Creme de Menthe.

This may have been one of my best dessert ideas ever!  These cookies are made in one bowl, there's no refrigerating the dough, they are rich, soft, chewy, and delicious.  What more could you ask for in a cookie?  I made them for the teachers at Jake's school, and I seriously contemplated getting up early that morning to make something else so I could keep these at home. They are that good!

Now that I have you drooling, I'll tell you how you can make them yourself.  Start out by creaming together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until nice and fluffy.  Add in some dark cocoa powder and a little vanilla extract and mix until the cocoa is completely blended in.  Crack in a couple of eggs and mix again. 

We want these cookies to be nice and puffy so add in some baking soda and a heaping tablespoon of cornstarch along with the flour.  I used white whole wheat flour, but all purpose will work just fine.  Mix it in until the dough is completely brown, no unmixed flecks of flour for these delights.  At this point you will have a VERY thick cookie dough.  You can stir in your mix-ins by hand, but I just used my mixer.  I figured that a few of the caramel filled chocolate chips would get broken, but that was okay with me.  I did give it a few final stirs with my spoonula to make sure all of the mix-ins were incorporated.

Use a cookie scoop to portion out your cookies onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake at 350 for 8 minutes.  I baked two cookie sheets at a time so I rotated them half way through the cooking time.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before moving them to the cooling rack to finish cooling.  These Dark Chocolate Turtle Cookies are delicious fresh and warm from the oven, look at that melting chocolate.

They are just as good the next day.  I can't speak to how they are after that because I foolishly gave them away and only saved a few for us.  My guess is that you won't find out how they are after more than a day either but if you do, I think they will still be soft and delicious. 

If I had been serving these in a single layer on a cookie tray I might have drizzled a little caramel over the top because I can never get enough caramel, but they really don't need anything else.  These photos do not do them justice.  The dark chocolate cookies with the melty semi-sweet chocolate chips, crunchy pecan pieces, and sweet, rich caramel filled chocolate chips combine to create the perfect cookie.  

Dark Chocolate Turtle Cookies
Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened 
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 heaping tbls. cornstarch
• 2 1/2 cups flour (all purpose or white whole wheat)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup pecan pieces
• 1 package Toll House DelightFulls caramel filled chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
3. Add in cocoa powder and vanilla extract and mix until the cocoa is completely blended in.
4. Crack in both eggs and mix again until well incorporated.
5. Add baking soda, cornstarch, and flour and mix until the dough is completely brown with no white showing from the flour.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips, pecan pieces, and caramel DelightFulls.
7. Use a cookie scoop to put on your cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 8 minutes.
8. Let cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

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