This Turtle Chocolate Candy is quick, easy and only 3 ingredients recipe. It is made with pecans topped with caramel and melted chocolate! Simple, no-bake candy recipe. These treats are perfect for holidays or to give as a gift.
Turtle Chocolate Candy with pecans and caramel is one of those treats that look and taste so good, you assume it’s impossible to resemble at home.
Check also, Peanut Butter Fudge and French Crème Caramel (Flan).
You’ve probably often come across these chocolate-coated pecans in cute candy shops. And once you bite into them, an additional nice caramel surprise oozes into your mouth.
There isn’t much to this recipe, so instead of purchasing these candies from the store, we recommend you try making them at home. We promise you’ll get way more out of your money’s worth; both in terms of quality and quantity.
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What is turtle chocolate candy?
Turtle chocolate candy is a combination of three divine ingredients carefully put together with the help of some basic kitchen tools. The microwave allows the ingredients to melt and mingle with one another.
And placing the treats in the fridge allows the melted ingredients to cool and solidify so they can be served. That’s it! There isn’t much to this recipe, except careful assembling and a neat presentation!
Why does this recipe work?
- This is an easy 3 ingredient turtle candy recipe.
- These Turtle Candies make a cute and lovely holiday gift.
- The best Christmas candy recipe ever.
- A fast, simple and no-bake recipe.
What’s in this recipe?
Pecans: Pick these up at the grocery store if you don’t already have ‘em lying around
Soft caramels: pick these up at a candy or grocery store. Pick one that’ll easily melt on the pecans without any trouble.
Semisweet chocolate: Choco chips or regular chocolate, whichever melts easily and quickly. Pick something you’d personally enjoy on your pecans.
How to make Chocolate Turtle Candy?
As mentioned before, these delightful treats have little to do with ‘making’. They’ve got more to do with choosing the best quality ingredients to put together your favourite chocolate turtle candy. So ensure you’ve picked up the quality of caramels, chocolate and pecans that you enjoy.
After which you can begin prepping for the candies:
Firstly, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Now, arrange every 4 pecans together in a cluster; each cluster should resemble the four limbs of a turtle. It’s best if all pecans are pointing towards the centre of the candy before you scoop the other ingredients on top.
But before we get there:
In 2 separate small bowls, microwave the caramels and chocolate chips for about 30 seconds or until they melt, then allow them to cool slightly.
Now scoop a spoonful of caramel on top of each pecan cluster, followed by another scoop of the melted chocolate on top of the caramel layer (let some of the chocolate drip down the sides).
Finally, pick up this baking sheet with all the Turtle Chocolate Candy and move them to the fridge.
Let the candies sit and solidify in the fridge for a good 20 to 30 minutes before taking them out.
That’s it! Your custom-made Turtle Chocolate Candies are ready to be nibbled away.
Top Tips
- It’s not necessary, but you can gently toast the pecans before beginning to drizzle caramel and chocolate on them. Toasting the pecans brings out a more earthy flavour and crunch to begin the recipe with.
- Caramel burns easier than chocolate, so make sure you check on it more than you check on the chocolate.
Recipe Variations
- You can sprinkle some powdered sugar or sea salt (liked by many) on top of these Turtle Candies once you’re done making them.
- Use heavy cream to thin out the caramel if it’s not the consistency you’d like for it to be. Simply add some heavy cream to the bowl of caramel before microwaving it. You can also add it afterwards, once the caramel is melted.
- Some people like to make this 3 ingredient turtle candy into a 4-ingredients one by adding in some good old peanut butter. The peanut butter is added first, followed by caramel and chocolate.
- Some may also like to add some crushed nuts of their choice to the peanut butter or chocolate. It could be the same pecans, hazelnuts and cashews.
- There is a ton of chocolates you can choose from to put together this recipe. There is milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white or semi-sweet chocolate. Pick the one you like most.
Serving Suggestions
These Turtle Chocolate Candies taste great with a cup of warm milk, tea or coffee. But they taste especially great when they’re received as a gift from your loved ones.
These candies make for a thoughtful gift to both adults and kids alike. Just wrap 10 or 12 of these candies in a pretty paper or Tupperware container, enclosed with a little bow on top. Write a little message that you’re thinking of them, and watch how your friends or family’s eyes light up as they receive this homemade gift.
Storage
Make ahead of time: The most productive thing you can prepare ahead of time is the ingredients that you’d like to use for this specific candy. Maybe you like your chocolate dark, or maybe you like it sweet. Be sure to pick out ingredients that you’ll like.
Store: When these turtle candies are kept away nicely in an air-tight container, they’ll last 5 days at room temperature. In the refrigerator, however, they’ll last a good 3 weeks.
Freeze: If you decide to freeze these candies, they will last you 2-3 months. You can easily whip up a big batch and toss them in the freezer so you can have them whenever you like in the next few months.
To reheat: There’s not much to do after you take these candies out of the freezer. Just leave them out at room temperature, and they should be defrosted and consumable in a couple of hours.
Recipe FAQs
This turtle chocolate candy is made from 4 pecans, covered with caramel and chocolate on top resembles the shell of a small turtle. They look like small turtles and are thus often referred to as Turtle Chocolate Candy. These turtle candies are currently trademarked by Chicago’s DeMet’s Candy Company. However, they were originally discovered by a Candy Chef in the 1900s who’s named Louis Gordon Hopper.
These Turtle Chocolate Candies are vegetarian. However, they are made of milk chocolate, so they aren’t vegan. However, if you’d like to make your recipe vegan, then you can make your candies from some vegan chocolate. If you can’t get your hands on some good vegan chocolate, you can always make homemade chocolate with vegan dairy-free milk.
Yes, absolutely! You just need to swap out the chocolate in this recipe for some sugar-free chocolate, and sugar-free caramel. If you have difficulty finding any of these ingredients, you can always make homemade chocolate with the help of stevia leaves. As for the caramel, that can also be made by adding your choice of sweetener to heavy cream and butter.
Yes, of course, you can. But you may not end up with candies looking like little turtles. If you use half-pecan, your turtles might look like they’re hiding in their shells. A lot of people also like to make this with crushed pecans, dipping them in chocolate and caramel later. If you go about doing this, you can use turtle moulds. There are other fun moulds available in the market to experiment with for this recipe as well.
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Recipe Card
Easy Turtle Chocolate Candy Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 100 g pecans
- 150 g soft caramels
- 150 g semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
- Now, arrange every 4 pecans together in a cluster; each cluster should resemble the four limbs of a turtle.100 g pecans
- In 2 separate small bowls, microwave the caramels and chocolate chips for about 30 seconds or until they melt, then allow to cool slightly.150 g soft caramels, 150 g semisweet chocolate chips
- Now scoop a spoonful of caramel on top of each pecan cluster and then another scoop of the melted chocolate on top of the caramel layer (let some of the chocolate drip down the sides).
- Put the baking sheet in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
Notes
- It’s not necessary, but you can gently toast the pecans before beginning to drizzle caramel and chocolate on them. Toasting the pecans brings out a more earthy flavour and crunch to begin the recipe with.
- Caramel burns easier than chocolate, so make sure you check on it more than you check on the chocolate.
Karen
This recipe is my daughter's favourite holiday candies! Fun, delicious, and so easy to make!
Rose
My young boy loved it, so I had to double the recipe.
Anna
I made these cute chocolate turtles with my kids, and it was fun! Thanks for sharing the recipe.