Turtles - Fail
Yesterday, I attempted homemade turtles for the first time. They are one of my husband's favorites, and I was really looking forward to making them. Turtles seem pretty simple. I mean after all they are just pecans, caramel, and chocolate.
I found a recipe that said simply to arrange the pecans, place the caramels on top, and then place in the oven until the caramels melt. Then it said to let them cool a bit, and cover the whole thing with melted chocolate.
They look pretty good don't they? Looks are deceiving.
The first problem came when I tried to get them off the baking sheet. I had to pry them off with a knife, breaking many of them in the process. That problem will be easily fixed, I think, by putting them on waxed paper next time. That is how I do all my other candies, and am not sure why I deviated from that routine this time. The second problem I do not know how to fix.
They are hard as rocks. They taste pretty good, if you don't break your teeth eating them. Tim resorted to warming them a little in the microwave first.
Some of the other recipes I saw suggested melting the caramel in a double boiler with some cream or milk. Does this help keep them soft? Any experienced turtle makers out there want to share their secrets? Our teeth would sure appreciate it.
10 comments:
Fail is the wrong title. I ate about 10 the same night. I didn't break my teeth. She didn't fail trust me. I will have them gone tomorrow.
I've always wanted to try making these because they are my favorite too! Thanks for sharing you, ah, failing experience :)
I've never made turtles but I hear it is easy but maybe not. You could try the double boiler method but I'm not sure if the caramel will tighten enough to keep it's form once totally cooled. I know altitude and humidity have tons of impact on candy making. You might try reducing the time in the oven to melt the caramel or reduce the oven temp to get a softer caramel.
My mother-in-law makes caramels from scratch every year, and the key there is not to let the temperature get too high. I would try taking yours out of the oven sooner because they will continue to melt after that. My other suggestion is to use Reynolds's no stick foil as our caramels stuck to wax paper as well.
I cheated, but it works and people are eating them like popcorn! All you need are small pretzels, rolo candies and pecan halves. Set oven to 350, put pretzels on baking sheet line with wax paper. Unwrap Rolo and put on top. Put in oven for 3 to 4 minutes - experiment with this! Then take out and press down a pecan half on the top. Done! I also used some Nestle dark mini chocolate and caramel bars and they actually looked prettier. So if you don't have time for homemade, try these!
Oh they look yummy! I haven't tried making them yet, seen many recipes for them though.
My sister makes the "cheating" version that anonymous mentions above. I can't stand caramel--so I just take everybody else's word that they are dee-lish!!
Whoa! Don't follow the link to my name above! It's going all kinds of crazy places.
I was going to mention the "cheater" version given above. They are very yummy. The pretzel adds a tiny salty taste to the sweet.
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