It seems there is never a time I am not in the kitchen cooking something up. I’ve been out most of the weekend with sports activities, so I wasn’t planning on working on anything these past two days.
I should have known that would never happen. You know you enjoy something when you’re dead tired, but still want to bake. So after basketball tryouts this afternoon, I peeled, cored, and cut up 6 pounds of apples to make apple butter. I’ve made this once before, but I found a recipe to tweak that was made in the crockpot. And instead of using sugar, it called for maple syrup. So, why not?! Recipe coming soon.
While that was cooking, I decided I wasn’t busy enough, so I found an old recipe for these “turtle cookies” that my husband swears are the same recipe his grandmother used to make. I haven’t made them in years, but happened across the recipe and decided to whip them up.
We’re pretty much crazy for anything that calls for caramel and a layer of chocolate. Oooh – that reminds me. I need to make some caramel popcorn.
Meanwhile, here’s the recipe for Grandma Nora’s Butter Pecan Turtle Bars.
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Butter Pecan Turtle Bars
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 2 cups | 10 ounces flour
- 1 cup | 7 ounces brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup chopped pecans
For the caramel layer:
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed | 7 ounces brown sugar
- 1 1/4 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
Instructions
To make the crust:
- In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, and butter. Pat firmly into two 8×8 inch pans.
- Sprinkle pecans over surface of both crusts.
To make the caramel layer:
- In a heavy saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until entire surface of mixture begins to boil.
- Boil 30 seconds to 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Pour caramel mixture evenly over both crusts.
- Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes until the entire caramel layer is bubbly and crust is light golden.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over top.
- Allow to melt 2 to 3 minutes without stirring.
- After they begin to melt, swirl with an offset spatula.
- Cool completely and cut into squares.
Notes
You could also use a large 9×13-inch pan for these. I wanted to be able to give some away and have some for my family, so I used two 8×8-inch square pans.
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