Homemade Turtle Candy

4.84 from 12 votes

Homemade Turtle Candy are a quick no-bake holiday treat, that are both sweet and salty. My mom made these at Christmas time, and they are bringing back all the memories.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword homemade turtle candy

Prep Time 30

Total Time 30

Servings turtles

Calories 159kcal

Author Sue Ringsdorf

Ingredients

10 oz. pecan halves
11 oz. Kraft caramels
2 Tablespoons half and half - or more
10 oz. chocolate melting wafers - Ghirardelli
sprinkle of kosher salt

Instructions

Toast the pecans. In a sauté pan over medium heat, toast the pecans until fragrant.
Add piles of pecans to the pan. Use a muffin tin lined with parchment paper liners. Add half of the pecans to the liners. You'll do this twice (unless you have two muffin tins).
10 oz. pecan halves
Melt the caramel. Add half of the caramels and one tablespoon of half and half to a glass dish. Microwave on 50% power in 30 second increments until soft and creamy. Stir frequently.
11 oz. Kraft caramels, 2 Tablespoons half and half
Add caramel to pecans. Add a spoonful of caramel to each mound of pecans, drizzling it so that it touches all of the pecans.
Melt the chocolate. Melt half of the chocolate at 50% power in 30 second increments, or until melted. Stir every 30 seconds.
Add chocolate on top of caramel. Add a spoonful of the melted chocolate to the caramel, letting it drip over the caramel.
10 oz. chocolate melting wafers
Add salt. Add some kosher salt to the top of the chocolate.
sprinkle of kosher salt
Refrigerate. Refrigerate the turtles until they're completely set. Then repeat with remaining ingredients. This recipe makes 24 turtles.
Serve. Serve the homemade turtles at room temperature. They may be too hard to eat chilled as the caramel firms up.

Notes

When melting the caramel and the chocolate, do it in increments and stir so you don't burn it.
You may need to add extra half and half to the caramel (and maybe even microwave it again) as you design the turtles, because the caramel will start to set up.
It's SO much easier to use a tin and parchment liners because the pecans will stay in place. If you use a regular sheet pan, the pecans will spread apart allowing too much caramel to seep through and all around the pecans. This makes a sticky mess.

Nutrition