Dark Chocolate Turtles
Individual Walnut Amaretto Turtles are the perfect sweet treat you don’t have to share! Toasted walnuts, creamy amaretto caramel, and salted dark chocolate!
Dark Chocolate Turtles
A traditional chocolate turtle is a candy made of pecans and caramel and covered in chocolate. Usually a free-form type of candy of creamy caramel studded with or on top of pecans.
This is usually drizzled or dipping in chocolate. Pretty simple, but in my opinion, a little on the sweet side.
Turtles are sweet because of all the delicious caramel that is topped with milk chocolate. Sometimes a little too much.
I feel that the pecans are a tad under-represented. Way too much candy and not enough nut! My Walnut Amaretto Turtles a more gourmet version of the traditional turtle, with sea salt and dark chocolate.
Plus, they are one bite and not a messy glob! Oh, and no pecans… WALNUTS!
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Walnut Turtle Recipe
The easiest way to make turtles is to grab some pecans, melt some caramels and drop some over the pecans, and then dip or top with a spoonful of chocolate.
Quick and dirty, and you can use all store-bought items. Nothing wrong with that!
I have even seen some made with chocolate caramel candy just melted over some nuts. Two ingredients!
I decided since these are gourmet, I would start with walnuts. The halves are bigger and have a larger surface area to dip.
Amaretto is a flavor I love to incorporate into desserts and sweets so why not make some homemade caramel and add a touch of spirit to it?
I mean, liquid spirit! Who would turn that down?
Next, I use a bittersweet, or 100% chocolate instead of milk or semi-sweet to balance out the caramel.
A dusting of Himalayan sea salt rounds them out! Chocolate turtles are transformed into grown-up Walnut Amaretto Turtles!
Dark Chocolate Turtles
You might think that the easy, microwave, Amaretto infused caramel is the star of these Walnut Amaretto Turtles, but it is really the dark chocolate.
I love a Divine Chocolate Bar for baking and melting because they have amazing flavor combinations and have a beautiful sheen to them when you coat or dip treats in it.
These turtles would be great dipped in a mint chocolate coating too!
For these particular turtles, I chose the 100% unsweetened chocolate bar. This way you get all chocolate, and no extra sugar!
A dusting of pink Himalayan sea salt rounds out the flavor profile. Savory walnuts, sweet caramel, bitter rich chocolate, and salt. These walnut amaretto turtles are all you need!
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Tapas Tips & Tricks
- You can make these in three different steps so you won’t spend all day making these.
- Keep a parchment-lined baking sheet for the whole process.
- Toast more walnuts than you need in case you eat a few before you get them dipped. Or in my case, more than a few. I also broke some along the way which I ate as well.
- Have everything set up before you start the caramel as you will be busy with this process to arrange anything else.
- Have a buttered dish set aside for any unused caramel. You can cut it into smaller pieces and eat it by itself another time.
- Have some hot pads handy as microwave caramel is hot and can seriously burn you!
- Have a fork handy for those walnuts that get stuck or dropped in the caramel. You don’t want to fish those out with your fingers.
- Depending on the temperature in your house, you might need to put the turtles that have been dipped in chocolate in the fridge to completely set.
- Let the turtles cool completely before storing.
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These Walnut Amaretto Turtles are a great new treat to take to a cookie exchange, add to a dessert cheese board, or give as holiday hostess gifts. The turtles can last up to 2 weeks if store-properly!
Dark Chocolate Amaretto Turtles – Individual Walnut Turtles
Ingredients
Walnuts
- 40 walnut halves
Caramel Coating
- ¼ cups butter unsalted
- ½ cups sugar granulated
- ½ cup light corn syrup
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- ½ cups sweetened condensed milk
- ¼ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons amaretto
Chocolate Coating
- 2.5 ounces dark chocolate Divine 100% bittersweet
- Himalayan Pink Sea Salt
Instructions
Prepare the walnuts
- Preheat oven to 250F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Spread the walnut halves in a single layer on the baking sheet.Toast walnuts for 15 minutes or until toasted and fragrant.Remove from oven and cool completely.These can be stored in an airtight container until ready to dip in caramel and chocolate.Prepare the caramel
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl, combine butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, white sugar, and sweetened condensed milk.
- Stir to mix completely.
- Microwave for 90 seconds at half power. (My microwave is 1600 watts- If your is 1000 watts you can microwave on full power)
- Remove from the microwave (with hot pads as the bowl will be very hot) and stir making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Return to the microwave and cook for another 90 seconds at half power (depending on your wattage).
- Remove from the microwave (with hot pads as the bowl will be very hot) and stir making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Continue this for two more cycles for a total cooking time of 6 minutes.
- At the end of the 6 minute cook time, add the amaretto and stir to combine again. This part may bubble up so be careful!
Coat the walnut amaretto truffles
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Dip a walnut halve into the caramel, coating it about 2/3 of the way.
- Place on the parchment paper to cool.
- Continue this until all the walnuts are dipped.
- Pour remaining caramel in a buttered dish and cut up for candy later.
- Once the caramel has set, prepare the chocolate coating.
Prepare to dip the walnuts
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (a glass or metal bowl over a simmering pot of water or in the crockpot).
- Stir to make sure the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
- Dip the caramel coated walnut halves in the chocolate. Feel free to dip half or all of it.
- Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Sprinkle with salt to your liking.
- Cool in the refrigerator until the chocolate is set.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Divine Chocolate is the only Fairtrade chocolate company in the world that is owned by cocoa farmers” and all of their baking bars are vegan. Perfect for those with food allergies or dietary restrictions.
For all their amazing products follow Divine on their social media channels!
Divine Chocolate, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Recipe adapted from this one and this one.
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