Homemade Turtles

I have a friend who loves turtles. She has a pet turtle, a turtle tattoo and lots of other turtley stuff. So when our Christmas celebrations came around, I thought it might be fun to make her some homemade turtles. I found a few caramel recipes online (see My Sister's Kitchen and David Lebovitz) and adapted them  slightly, using walnuts instead of pecans (her fella likes walnuts) and dipping them in dark, rich chocolate. The result?

I am pretty darn happy. They taste approximately 42 million times better than store bought turtles. The chocolate is deliciously rich, the buttery caramel melts in your mouth instead of sticking to your teeth, and the bitterness of the walnuts actually works better with the sugaryness than pecans may have. But use any nut you fancy!



Homemade Turtles
makes 20-25 turtle sized turtles

100 g brown sugar (1/2 cup)
100 g white sugar (1/2 cup)
125 g light corn syrup (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
125 g butter (1/2 cup)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
200 g chopped walnuts or other nuts (1 1/2 cups)
300 g dark chocolate, preferably 70%, chopped
1 tbsp butter

1 Place the brown and white sugar, corn syrup, cream and milk in a medium saucepan over medium low heat and cook until a candy thermometer reaches 245 F, or until it forms a firm but slightly squishy ball when dropped in ice water. Swirl the pan while it cooks occasionally, but avoid stirring. This process may take up to 45 minutes, have patience, clean the kitchen!
2 While you wait for the caramel, prepare your other ingredients, measure out the butter, salt and vanilla. Chop and toast the nuts if desired.
3 When the caramel is ready, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter, salt and vanilla until smooth, then stir in the walnuts.
4 Drop turtle sized pieces of the mixture onto parchment paper with a spoon. Of course, you can also make megaturtles. Chill the mixture in the fridge until it is cool.
5 When the caramel is almost cool, put the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl set over a put of boiling water and stir until the chocolate is melted.
6 Remove the caramel from the fridge and form into the desired shape; round, flat, ninja turtle... anything. If it gets too soft, return it to the fridge and just reheat the chocolate when you need to.
7 Dip the turtles in the chocolate with a fork and return to parchment paper, then return to the fridge for the chocolate to set.
8 Eat them all in one sitting.

I was afraid of caramel going into this, but I came out of it with only minor injuries. A couple burnt fingers and a burnt tongue. But it was worth it. I would definitely advise making these one day, they take a lot of time, but not a lot of effort. And they really impress your friends (I hope).