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Location: Texas, United States

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Crunchy Turtle Cookies


Dough:

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups flour
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c chopped pecans (I skipped these because I didn't have time to chop nuts)

Caramel Layer:

16 oz (about 56) caramels, unwrapped (new unwrapped Caramel bits work fine)
3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream

Chocolate Layer:

8 oz. (2 baking bars) Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate, broken into 1-inch pieces
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350o. In a large bowl, cream the sugar, shortening, butter, vanilla, and egg until fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Gradually pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing well. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place them 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Lightly spray the bottom on a drinking glass with cooking spray. Dip it into granulated sugar and flatten cookie into a circle approximately 1/4 inch thick. Recoat the bottom of the glass with sugar and flatten another cookie. Repeat until all dough is flattened. Sprinkle the chopped pecans on the cookies, pressing lightly to set. Bake 9-10 minutes until set but not browned.

To make caramel layer, place caramels and cream in a heavy saucepan and cook over low heat until melted, stirring occasionally. Spoon the caramel over the cooled cookies, to within 1/4 inch of the edges.

While the caramel sets, make the chocolate layer. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over hot but not boiling water. Stir occasionally until smooth. Add the melted butter, stirring until well blended. Spoon a teaspoonful of the chocolate over caramel on each cookie; spread with the back of the spoon to cover most but not all of the caramel layer. Immediately press 1 pecan half into the chocolate on each of the cookies. Store tightly covered.

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