Vegan Turtles
These vegan turtles are made with butterscotch caramel, TOASTED pecans, chocolate and topped with flaky sea salt. A quick and easy treat, perfect for the holidays and cookie boxes. Butterscotch is a caramel made with brown sugar and has a richer, sweeter flavor than “normal” caramel and elevates the flavor of these dairy free turtles.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups pecans
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup dairy free butter I find that country crock works best
- ¼ cup coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- 8 oz dairy free chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Place the pecans on a baking sheet and place in the oven WHILE it is preheating. Don’t wait until the oven reaches 350 to put in the pecans, they will burn at that temp. Leave them in for 10-15 min, until they are starting to darken in color slightly and are fragrant. Remove and set aside.
- Melt your chocolate with the coconut oil until smooth. You can do this easily in the microwave in 25 second intervals, stirring in between and repeating until completely melted.
- Now, to make the butterscotch: place the sugar in a saucepan and heat over medium low heat. It will clump together some initially, then will turn into an almost peanut butter texture. Stir regularly and continue to let it melt and caramelize until it is more of a smooth liquid.
- Remove from the heat and add in the butter. It will bubble and steam a lot, so be careful. Whisk until the butter has become homogeneous. This may take a minute or 2.
- Lastly, add in the coconut milk and whisk until it is homogenous. Set aside to cool and firm up. You don’t want it to be loose before pouring on the pecans.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the pecans in a “turtle” or “star” shape.
- Pour a bit of caramel in the middle of each set of pecans, ensuring that each pecan has some caramel on it so the cluster will hold together.
- Top each cluster with a bit of the melted chocolate, covering the caramel layer.
- Sprinkle on some flaky sea salt and enjoy!
- Store these in the fridge in an airtight container, with parchment paper in between each layer.