Turtle Thumbprint Cookies

{Baked} Element{s}ary Dear Watson

These cookies sound really good and cute and super nutty.  Not nutty in a 'wow that Sandra is nuts, and it's not too late to call in the men in white', more like a 'wow there are three cups of pecans in this recipe'.  Now that we've cleared that up, let's get baking!

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (also known as the softening of butter).

Actually, I've just taken out the 2 sticks of butter needed for this recipe, there will be a slight delay until they soften.   <cue the elevator music>  No, not the muzak!  Okay, then cue the music from the Nutcracker.  (It will be like I'm on hold with IT, at work.) Hmm...I think the music is only in my head.









 Baked, two weeks in a row.  Oh my.
We are now going back to weekly baking, as we're gearing up for the fall release of the new Baked cookbook.  <insert excited scream!!!!>  We are all super excited at Baked Sunday Mornings!(And that dear Watson is an understatement!)

Arrr, I'm toasting me nuts.  (What?  Nuts brings out the pirate in me.)  Arr look at me nuts.

 But there will be no walking the plank for you, me pecans....it is straight to the oven for some toasting.



Umm...whatcha doin'? I'm toasting me nuts.  Thanks for asking.

No seriously, what are you doing?  (Translation:  Why aren't you paying attention to me!!!)













Huh.
Oh good gravy.<face palm>
Okay, no one panic, but this sounds like the point in our baking, where Sandra realizes she should have read the recipe all the way through until the end.  (Not just the ingredients list.)  I was sure the chopped nuts went into the cookie dough.  I was mistaken.  There was also some confusion over the eggs, but I won't get into that.  Lesson is; read the recipe all the way through before starting to bake.

Okay, so I'm going to put the, just made, cookie dough into the freezer to chill.  The recipe says to put in the fridge for at least an hour and up to 24 hours.  But I've already chopped me nuts (Arrrr).  Ah well, I'll just speed up the chilling process and all will be good. (Until it isn't good.)

Cookie dough is out of the freezer and rock hard.  <palm to forehead in 3-2-1...smack>
Okay, so we'll come back to that when it thaws.  Sigh.

The dough gets rolled, dipped and rolled again.  Dipped in egg whites and then a roll in some crushed nuts.  Hey, I'm not judging.

They look so pretty rolled in the crushed pecans.

I am cornholio.

Rather than using my thumb to make the holes, I've  decided to use a corn holder.  Yep, that's what it is.














 A thing of beauty. Let the baking begin.















 Finished baking.  Just need to cool down before I can fill in the thumbprints with caramel.  Oh right, I gotta make that caramel.  Don't mess with me caramel.  I know we've had our moments (good and bad) in the past.

I didn't need to go out and buy condensed milk, because I had some in the pantry.  (Is what I thought.)  D'OH!! (Heard throughout the house.)  To be fair, I do have condensed milk, but it is flavoured and coloured.  Not sure if this is going to help or hinder my caramel making.  Guess we'll see.  I think the only real issue is that the condensed milk is already caramel coloured...hence making it difficult to tell if the caramel is ready. 

I think it has worked.  The caramel thickened and nothing burnt to the bottom of the pot.  (Yay!)  Just need to strain it and then I'm ready to fill the thumbprints.












And here are the finished products.  So cute! 

The combination of those pecans and caramel is fantastic. 
And one almost forgets about the chocolate cookie underneath all of that...

...until the first bite.

Got Milk?

Can't wait to see how everyone else at Baked Sunday Mornings like these cookies.  I give them a thumbprint up!