INGREDIENTS
Pecan Halves (5 halves per turtle)
Caramels (1 per turtle)a bag has about 40 in it
1-12 ounce package chocolate chips
Vegetable shortening
DIRECTIONS
Melt the chocolate chips in either a double boiler or a microwave. Place the pecan halves on a cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper!). Cluster together to form the turtle head, arms, and feet. Unwrap the caramels and flatten each one with a rolling pin.
Place a flattened caramel on top of each cluster of pecans. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for about 6 minutes or until the caramels are just melted, but not bubbling. Remove from oven and spoon a dollop of chocolate on each turtle.
Once the caramels are flattened, I arranged the pecans on a baking sheet in the shape of a star. 5 pecan halves for each. 1 for the turtle’s head and the other 4 to make the legs. Kristin, from Frugal Antics posted a link to the YouTube video where she found this recipe. I really wish that I had watched it before making these, because I would have been more likely to line my baking sheets with parchment paper.
I strongly recommend lining the baking sheets, because many of my turtles stuck fast to the sheet after I melted the caramels. In the process of prying the turtles off of the baking sheet, some of them lost legs and heads and therefore were not acceptable to give as gifts (although perfect for eating at home…so not a complete loss!) 
Place a rolled caramel in the center of each group of pecans.
Then, melt for about 6 minutes in a 325 degree oven. Just long enough to melt the caramel and bind the pecans together, but not so long that the caramel melts all the way to the baking sheet and gets bubbly.
Now for the chocolate topping step: I just melted a bag of chocolate chips in the microwave and spooned chocolate over the caramel and smoothed it a bit. I will do things a bit differently next time. Read on to see why…
Once they had completely cooled, the chocolate on one batch of my turtles had lost it’s sheen, and the other batched exhibited the dreaded chocolate bloom. Bummer.
I melted more chocolate and then, using candy painting brushes, my daughter and I “painted” over the chocolate bloom. My mother-in-law was visiting and she pointed out that the spots were “cute” and it looked like we had put them there on purpose for spots on the turtle’s shells. She made a good point….but I was concerned that people would see the spots and be afraid to eat them. 
And so we painted all of those spotted turtles. They turned out alright. Not candy store quality, but definitely delicious!
I boxed them up for gift giving. I purchased half pound boxes at my local candy making store, but you can also purchase them online: Candy Boxes 1/2 Lb. 3-Pack: White
By Krista’s Kitchen.
Thanks for inspiring us!
You can see the recipe here: cookingwithkrista.blogspot.com
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