Turtle Bark Cookies
Welcome to 12 days of Christmas Cookies, my way of celebrating the holidays by sharing with you all 12 unique yet nostalgic cookie recipes to bake over the holidays. For day 2, I am sharing these Turtle Bark Cookies. It was only within the last year that I realized that the infamous Canadian favourite, Turtles Chocolates, is just that… Canadian?! When I first shared a turtle dessert online I was surprised that not everyone knew about this delectable treat. If turtles are new to you, they are a caramel pecan chocolate that are extra special around the holidays. And I have taken them a step further with these Turtle Bark Cookies… let me tell you all about them!
What is Turtle Bark?!
I created a turtle bark inspired by the one and only Christmas Crack(er) Bark, which is a perfect combination of saltine crackers, chocolate and caramel. For this turtle bark, I used graham crackers instead, honoured the caramel and chocolate and then added pecans and flaky salt on top. I let this sit in the fridge before breaking it apart and adding it to our cookie dough!
I really do doubt that you have ever seen a cookie just like this one before, it is an ode to holidays but something different, and that’s just what I love about this recipe! The cookies come out crispy and golden on the edges with a perfectly soft centre – balanced out by the salty, caramely goodness of the turtle bark!
12 Days of Christmas Cookies is inspired by nostalgic, holiday flavours but combined in a way that you hopefully haven’t seen before. Cookies are kind of my thing…. the limits of creativity feel endless when it comes to cookies and I am always so giddy about coming up with a new flavour combination, and so combing my favourite dessert with my favourite holiday just felt fitting! Between December 1st to the 12th you will see 12 completely different cookie recipes, ranging from easy, throw together recipes to recipes with a little more TLC, but something for bakers of every level. A lot of these cookies compliment each other if you want to throw them together in a cookie box to bring in to the office or gift to someone you love. They also all freeze really well if you are like me and would like to get a head start on your Christmas baking early in the month so that you have goodies to pull out on December 21st when you want something sweet but are overwhelmed with beautiful chaos!
All of the cookie recipes you see over the next 12 days are unique recipes that I have created, tested and retested for you to enjoy in your own kitchens. If you do decide to make any of these recipes, please do tag me on socials because I love to see what you come up with!
The Ingredients
For the Turtle Bark
The recipe below will make a little more Turtle Bark than you may need for the cookies, if you don’t eat handfuls of it in the process like me! I recommend sticking to the recipe below anyways and either overloading your cookies (can’t go wrong) or saving some of the remaining turtle bark for snacking.
- 20 individual square graham crackers (10 if they come in the rectangles!)
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 10 ounces bakers semi-sweet chocolate
For the Cookies
- 1 cup butter, unsalted, room temperature but not soft!
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 medium sized egg
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- about 2 cups of broken up turtle bark (measure this with your heart!)
The Instructions
- The first step for this recipe is to make the turtle bark, because it will need at least an hour, if not longer, to sit in the fridge and harden up. Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees F.
- On a large parchment lined baking sheet, layout your 20 squares of graham crackers. Set aside.
- On the stove on medium heat, in a medium sized pot, melt your butter. Once melted, add in the brown sugar and stir to dissolve it completely. Once the brown sugar and butter have dissolved and combined, remove from the heat and let it sit for just 3-5 minutes to stop bubbling and cool down slightly. Next, pour it over top of the graham crackers to fully coat them and then stick this in the oven at 400 degrees for just 5 minutes to allow the crackers to cook slightly. Remove from oven, cool or a minute or two then stick this into the fridge to allow it to set for about 10 minutes.
- While the bark is setting in the fridge, melt the chocolate! A double boiler always works best for melting chocolate but if you are feeling lazy doing it in the microwave in a glass pouring jar will do the trick.
- Once the caramel has set on the crackers slightly, pour the melted chocolate over top and spread out with the back of a spoon to cover. Next, sprinkle the chopped pecans and a pinch of flaky salt over top. Stick this back in to the fridge for at least an hour, up to two, to set.
- For the cookies! Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grab all needed ingredients.
- In a large stand mixer, add the butter and sugar to your bowl and mix on high until smooth and creamed.
- Next, add in the egg and combine.
- Combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder in a separate bowl and give it a quick whisk with a fork to combine. Next, gradually add this to the wet mixture until combined.
- Finally, once the turtle bark is set, pull it out of the fridge and break up in to small peices. Add about 2 cups worth of the turtle bark peices in to the cookie dough, feel free to add as much as you’d like really! Give it one final mix with the turtle bark and then scoop out 2 tbsp sized balls of cookie dough. Place these on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes. The cookies do spread so only bake 10-12 at a time depending on the size of your baking sheet.
- If your house is warm this time of the year, stick the pre-scooped balls of cookie dough in the fridge while you wait to cook them. You do not need to chill the dough for this recipe, but we don’t want it to go into the oven too warm.
- Once all cookies are baked, I like to add a small chunk of turtle bark on top. This recipe makes 18-20 cookies and they are perfect stored at room temperature or in the freezer!
Ingredients
Method
- The first step for this recipe is to make the turtle bark, because it will need at least an hour, if not longer, to sit in the fridge and harden up. Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees F.
- On a large parchment lined baking sheet, layout your 20 squares of graham crackers. Set aside.
- On the stove on medium heat, in a medium sized pot, melt your butter. Once melted, add in the brown sugar and stir to dissolve it completely. Once the brown sugar and butter have dissolved and combined, remove from the heat and let it sit for just 3-5 minutes to stop bubbling and cool down slightly. Next, pour it over top of the graham crackers to fully coat them and then stick this in the oven at 400 degrees for just 5 minutes to allow the crackers to cook slightly. Remove from oven, cool or a minute or two then stick this into the fridge to allow it to set for about 10 minutes.
- While the bark is setting in the fridge, melt the chocolate! A double boiler always works best for melting chocolate but if you are feeling lazy doing it in the microwave in a glass pouring jar will do the trick.
- Once the caramel has set on the crackers slightly, pour the melted chocolate over top and spread out with the back of a spoon to cover. Next, sprinkle the chopped pecans and a pinch of flaky salt over top. Stick this back in to the fridge for at least an hour, up to two, to set.
- For the cookies! Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grab all needed ingredients.
- In a large stand mixer, add the butter and sugar to your bowl and mix on high until smooth and creamed.
- Next, add in the egg and combine.
- Combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder in a separate bowl and give it a quick whisk with a fork to combine. Next, gradually add this to the wet mixture until combined.
- Finally, once the turtle bark is set, pull it out of the fridge and break up in to small pieces. Add about 2 cups worth of the turtle bark pieces in to the cookie dough, feel free to add as much as you’d like really! Give it one final mix with the turtle bark and then scoop out 2 tbsp sized balls of cookie dough. Place these on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes.
- If your house is warm this time of the year, stick the pre-scooped balls of cookie dough in the fridge while you wait to cook them. You do not need to chill the dough for this recipe, but we don’t want it to go into the oven too warm.
- Once all cookies are baked, I like to add a small chunk of turtle bark on top. This recipe makes 18-20 cookies and they are perfect stored at room temperature or in the freezer!