So we were cleaning out the fridge and cabinets, and as always when that happens we found that there was a bunch of odds and ends that needed to be used up. Since we had some cocoa, caramel sauce, and pecans I decided to make some turtle brownies. After all, who doesn’t love a good turtle?
At first I thought of using a turtle brownie recipe, but as I was looking up recipes most of them were just “make pecan brownies and put caramel on top of them”. They also kept asking to have chocolate melted into the batter to give it a chocolate flavor. Since the point of using up leftover ingredients in baking is to use things up, not get more, I decided to pick a good brownie recipe using cocoa powder and add the caramel sauce to that one. The brownie I went with was “The Best Fudgy Brownie” from Inspired Taste. The recipe is absolutely delicious and firmly on the fudgy side of the cake/fudge brownie debate.
I started by toasting the pecans I had, choosing to toast them whole and then chop them some more so there wouldn’t be any large chunks of pecan to serve as a choking hazard hiding in the brownies. I followed the recipe pretty closely, melting the butter and adding the sugar and cocoa before letting the batter cool so that it wouldn’t immediately scramble the eggs. (I have done that before while making a caramel brandy sauce, would not recommend). After adding the remaining ingredients I folded in the toasted pecans to the batter last before baking the brownies.
Once the brownies finished cooking and had cooled I drizzled the top with the caramel sauce, topped the brownies with more toasted pecans, and really put the “turtle” in these turtle brownies. I’m pleased to say the brownies didn’t last long once they had properly chilled to make sure the caramel was cool enough to stay on the brownies. I think it took maybe a week before the pan was empty and waiting to be cleaned. All in all I would count it as a successful experiment!
If you’re interested in trying the original brownies yourself, the link is below!
