Turtle Thumbprint Cookies

Like the yummy chocolate pecan candy but COOKIE. Rich and fudgy vegan Turtle Thumbprint Cookies with a homemade vegan caramel center!

SPONSORED BY MIYOKO’S

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There is no chocolate candy named after a semi-aquatic reptile that I love more than chocolate pecan turtles. They are a perfect balance of crunch and gooey and chocolate. But here’s the thing. When you translate that delicious candy into a COOKIE, we get to add a fudgy chewy brownie-ish baked texture that just makes the whole bite next level yummy.

We’re also making our own vegan caramel from scratch (it’s easy, promise!) and there will be an opportunity to lick the very delicious cookie batter bowl (you wanna, promise! see scoop shot below), so there are many perks to cookie > candy turtles.

The Yummiest Turtle Cookies

Chocolate, pecans, caramel—those are the essential turtle elements. So in thumbprint cookie form that translates to: chocolate cookie rolled in chopped pecans before baking then filled with caramel and drizzled in melted chocolate. Yes we are 2x the chocolate element, you read that right.

How To Make Homemade Vegan Caramel

Caramel is simple, and relatively simple to make vegan. You will need…

• Instead of butter: Miyoko’s Cultured Vegan Butter
• Instead of white sugar: cane sugar
• Instead of heavy cream: vegan creamer or coconut milk
• And instead of vanilla…well we’re still using vanilla
• Optional extra salt if you lean SALTED caramel

Miyoko’s vegan butter has the creaminess of cashews and a yummy rich buttery flavor, which is why it works so well here. Many vegan butters are just made of oils and natural flavors, so when you melt them down you aren’t going to get the fatty richness and flavor you need for a caramel like this. One more sweet dessert reason to love Miyoko’s!

Melt the vegan butter, add sugar and creamer, simmer and stir until the color darkens and it begins to thicken, turn off heat and add vanilla. See, simple. I do recommend prepping this part the day before so it has plentyyyyy of time to cool, and then removing from the fridge when you start making the cookies so it can re-soften to the perfect plop-in-the-middle-of-a-cookie consistency.

Ultra Rich Chocolate Pecan Cookies

This cookie batter is pretty straightforward—one bowl, vegan and gluten-free, sweetened with coconut sugar, and spreads beautifully when baked. To make the rolling in pecans part easier, I do recommend chilling for 30 minutes (I have also done the freezer for 15 move…works) after mixing. You will need…

• Vegan butter. Just like in the caramel, I am using Miyoko’s Cultured Vegan Butter in the cookie batter. It creams together with coconut sugar to create the base for these cookies just as well as it melts into dreamy caramel. And it’s made with such good and simple ingredients, which I appreciate. It also adds a lot more flavor than oil would, and helps the cookies to spread perfectly. I did use the salted variety, but unsalted is fine too.
• Coconut sugar. Brown sugar would work too, both have more moisture than white and makes these cookies extra rich.
• Flax eggs. To help bind the cookies.
• Gluten-free flour. Or all purpose if you are not gluten-free. I did test with cassava flour as well and they came out a bit too crumbly for me.
• Cocoa powder.
• Almond milk. Or any non-dairy milk you like.
• Salt, baking soda, and vanilla.
• Pecans. Finely chopped (or throw them in the blender on low for 10 seconds) for rolling the cookies in.

Turtle Thumbprint Cookies Step-By-Step

It’s the holidays, we’re baking cookies, of course these are very shareable and made to be given as well as eaten. But I gotta say, that kitchen bite while the cookie is still a tad warm because you aren’t patient and the caramel is at peak gooey consistency and the chocolate drizzles are still melty enough to get your fingers messy…that’s THE bite.

More Holiday Cookie Recipes You’ll Love

• Sugar Cookie Bars
• Best Vegan Paleo Gingerbread Cookies
• Almond Shortbread Cookies
• Vegan Linzer Cookies

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