Turtle Brownies Recipe: Easy Brownie Recipe
This Turtle Brownies recipe is a luscious bar cookie recipe and a simple variation of two popular confections: traditional brownies and turtle candy.
As the story goes, Turtles were christened in 1916 at Johnson’s Candy Company (which later became DeMet’s) when a salesman visited the confectionary’s production room and showed a sample to one of the dippers working on the line. The worker pointed out that the candy looked like a turtle, with its creased back resembling a turtle shell and its grooves accented by the caramel and chocolate.
Almost a century later, turtle candy remains a favorite among sweet tooths!
In this version, caramel and pecans are sandwiched between two brownie layers and topped with one more coating of chocolate and pecans for good measure.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 45 minutes, divided
Makes 16 brownies
Ingredients
1 18-ounce brownie mix (or your favorite brownie recipe)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules (optional)
2 eggs
1 cup (8 ounces) caramel sauce
1 ½ cups pecans, chopped
1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions for this Turtle Brownies Recipe
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Spray well with vegetable spray.
- Measure water into a microwavable dish. Heat it in microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and immediately add instant coffee granules to dissolve. (This bit of coffee in the cookie batter is optional. Use it to intensify the chocolate flavor.)
- Pour brownie mix, vegetable oil, eggs, and dissolved coffee (or hot water) into a large mixing bowl. Use a large spoon to combine the mixture until dry I ngredients are absorbed.
- Pour half of brownie mixture into prepared pan. Reserve the remainder. Bake the bottom brownie later for 15 minutes.
- Remove pan from oven. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the pecans. Gently pour caramel syrup over pecans, covering brownie surface completely. Cover filling with dollops of the remaining brownie batter. Use an angled spatula to gently spread brownie batter evenly, covering filling. Sprinkle surface with chocolate chips and remaining pecans. Bake brownies for 28-32 minutes more until center is set and no longer glossy.
- Remove the pan from the oven. Allow the pan to cool completely on a wire rack. Once cool, set the pan in the refrigerator or freezer for 30 minutes or more before cutting the brownies into bars.
- Store bars loosely covered at room temperature (4-5 days) or in the refrigerator (up to two weeks) … if they last that long.
Special Baking Tips for this Turtle Brownies recipe
To prevent caramel sauce from sticking to the sides of the pan, consider flouring the baking pan liner after spraying it with vegetable spray.
The Elf prefers to chop pecans for this recipe because it makes the brownies easier to cut. But you can use whole pecan halves if you want to be a Turtle purist.
When you pour half the batter into the prepared pan, you can eyeball the amount. There's no need to be super-exact.
Note that for this recipe it is best not to try to test doneness with a toothpick, since you may simply see melted chocolate chips and caramel when you remove the toothpick from the center of the brownies.
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More brownies on our Brownies Pinterest board...
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