Turtle Thumbprint Cookies

Growing up, my mom always made turtles around Christmas. I've never been the biggest fan of pecans, so my mom would make my some turtles without pecans. Just caramel dipped in chocolate, but so delicious. She's the best like that. : ) 

Anyway, my sister is having some surgery, so I decided to send her a package. Since one of our best friends also happens to live in the same city as my sister, I made them a care package. Hope they love it! I packed it full of baked goodies. My sister typically tries to avoid sugar and flour (basically two of my main food groups), so I also made her some gluten free, sugar free almond joy bars. 

For Lian, the food connoisseur, I made these turtle thumbprint cookies. Fun fact: she has a Pinterest board specifically for pinning foods she wants me to make for her. Actually, I have 3 friends who have boards specifically for foods they want me to make for them. I guess that's what happens when you're the "Baker Friend."  

Turtle Thumbprint Cookies

Yields: 30 small cookies

Cookies

1 cup flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg, separated yolk and white

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 tsp finely chopped pecans AND/OR shredded coconut 

Caramel Filling

15 soft caramel candies (I used Werther's Original)

1-2 tbsp cream

Chocolate Drizzle

1/4 cup chocolate chips 

1/2 tsp vegetable oil

1. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar. Add in the egg yolk, milk, and vanilla. Add in the dry ingredients. 

2. Put the dough, covered, in the fridge for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. 

3. Whisk the egg white in a small bowl until slightly frothy. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the cookie dough. Roll it into a ball and dip into the egg white, then roll in the pecans (or coconut). 

4. Place them 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Press the center slightly down with a teaspoon. Bake for 8-12 minutes. 

5. Let the cookies cool. Melt the caramel and cream together for about 45 seconds. Stir and put into a sandwich bag. Cut off a small bit of the corner and squeeze a little bit on each cookie.

6. Melt the chocolate and oil together. Put it into a sandwich bag and cut off a small bit of the corner and drizzle on the cookies. 

Caramel Cupcakes

I recently took a dialect quiz. The point of the quiz was to demonstrate how differently people across the United States speak the English language. The quiz was scarily accurate... it identified my hometown and my parents' hometown as the places I'm most likely from. You should check out the quiz at this link. One of the questions was how I pronounced "caramel." Am I the only one who completely ignores the middle "a"? I say "CAR-ml."

Anyway, these cupcakes were a fun experiment for my husband's work luncheon. It was Harry Potter themed, so I wanted to go with something along the lines of butterbeer cupcakes. I adapted the cupcake recipe from Natasha's Kitchen, and I invented the frosting recipe.

Caramel Cupcakes 

Yields: 15 cupcakes

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup canola or veggie oil
1/2 cup buttermilk (I always use milk with 1/2 tsp white vinegar)

1/3 cup caramel sauce (the ice cream topping kind is what I used)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Line cupcake pans with 15 cupcake papers. Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk for about 1 minute. You want to get everything really well incorporated.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the eggs with the sugar for about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and oil, then beat for 15 seconds.

3. Add the flour mixture and buttermilk slowly, alternating between the two. Use a cookie scoop to divide the batter evenly among the 15 cupcake papers. I filled my cupcake paper halfway up the paper.

4. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 tbsp caramel sauce
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
milk for thinning

1. Beat the slightly softened butter for about 1 minute in the stand mixer. Add the caramel sauce.

2. Slowly add the powdered sugar, then add the vanilla. You may need a few teaspoons of milk or cream to thin the frosting out enough to pipe it.

To assemble the cupcakes:

Let the cupcakes cool. Use a very small round piping tip to fill cupcakes with the caramel sauce. Pipe frosting onto the cupcakes using a closed star tip. Drizzle with leftover caramel sauce. Enjoy!

My wonderful husband got me a fancy frosting piping bag and giant cupcake coupler for my birthday. Most useful present ever!