These brown butter turtle cookies are soft, chewy, and loaded with chocolate chips, toasted pecans, and melty caramel bits!
If you've ever had turtle candies, you know why this flavor combo is so good! With creamy caramel, smooth chocolate, and crunchy pecans, it's a perfect marriage of texture and flavor!
You might also like these turtle blondies or these espresso chocolate chip cookies!
Jump to:
Ingredient Notes
You just need a few ingredients to make these caramel pecan chocolate chip cookies!
Brown Butter - My favorite ingredient of all time is brown butter!! Brown butter is just unsalted butter that has been melted and gently cooked to bring out a toasty, nutty flavor. If you've never made brown butter before, you can check out this post with all my tips for how to make brown butter! But if you're trying to keep things simple, you can just use regular unsalted butter in the cookies.
Chocolate Chips - If you like dark chocolate, I highly recommend the Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate baking chips. The flavor is amazing and the baking chips are slightly larger and flatter than normal chocolate chips and melt beautifully inside your cookies.
Pecans - Roughly chopped, unsalted pecans are best for this recipe. But you could also substitute walnuts, almonds, or just leave out the nuts if you prefer!
Caramels - I've tested a bunch of different caramels in these cookies, and overall my favorites are the Werther's Chewy Caramels! But the Kraft Caramel Squares also work well (I personally just don't like the flavor as much). Just cut them up into small pieces before adding to the cookies.
Flaky Sea Salt - This is completely optional, but I just love a little sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top of the turtle cookies!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Turtle Cookies
Browning the butter is technically optional but the extra time is SO worth it! The biggest problem I see people run into when using brown butter in cookies, is not letting the butter cool completely to room temperature before adding it to the dough. So I highly recommend browning the butter the night before you want to make these caramel pecan chocolate chip cookies.
Chop the caramels into smaller pieces (smaller chunks will melt better in the cookies).
The caramel pieces will want to stick together, so I like to toss them in a tiny bit of the flour so that they won't clump up together in the batter.
Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or hand mixer, cream the room temperature brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth and creamy.
Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until light, fluffy, and pale in color. This should take 2-4 minutes which seems like a long time, but you'll see a huge difference in the texture afterwards.
Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until thoroughly combined. The dough should be wet and sticky and you might think you need more flour but you don't!
Gently fold the chocolate chips, chopped pecans, and caramel pieces into the cookie dough.
Scoop a generous 3 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. I use a size 20 cookie scoop. If desired, press some extra chocolate chips and caramel pieces into the tops of the cookie dough balls.
Cover the dough balls and chill in the fridge overnight for best results. If you absolutely can't wait, just chill it for at least 2 hours. Chilling the dough is super important so that the cookies don't spread!
To bake, place 2-3 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake at 350°F on the center rack of the oven for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are set and the centers are still soft.
Remove from the oven and let rest on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
If desired, sprinkle the turtle cookies with flaky sea salt and enjoy!
Why do I have to chill the dough?
Chilling the dough is super important for a few reasons!
First, letting the dough rest gives the flour time to hydrate. Eggs are the only liquid in these brown butter turtle cookies and it takes flour a long time to absorb that moisture. When the flour is hydrated it helps contain the spread of the cookie so that you get a nice set edge and soft, chewy center.
Similarly, the brown butter needs to be as cold as possible before baking so that the cookies don't spread too much.
But don't we want the cookies to spread? Yes, we do and they will. We just don't want them to spread too much because then you get a flat, dry cookie instead of one with a soft, chewy center.
Tips for Perfect Cookies
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, crumbly cookies that don't spread.
Make sure your oven is the proper temperature! Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is exactly 350°F. If the oven is too cold, the cookies will spread too much and if it's too hot they centers won't bake all the way through. For example, my oven is about 20 degrees off. So I have to set the oven to 370°F in order to get it to bake at 350°F.
Use a lightweight, light colored baking sheet for best results! Believe it or not, a lighter pan makes the cookies bake more slowly than a dark pan, which helps keep them from spreading too much. My favorite pans for baking cookies are:
You also want to use either parchment paper or silicone mats on your cookie sheet to help keep the cookies from spreading.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time, on the center rack. This will ensure all your cookies cook evenly and the bottoms don't burn. Then let the cookie sheet cool completely between batches. This ensures the cookies cook evenly and don't spread too much by being put on a hot pan.
Always under-bake the cookies! If you slightly under-bake the cookies (so the centers are still soft when you remove them from the oven), they'll stay soft and chewy for days!
Do the cookie scoot! In order to get perfectly round cookies, use a large cookie cutter to gently scoot them around as soon as they come out of the oven!
Recipe FAQ's
Store the baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. You can also store the dough in the fridge for up to a week and bake just a few cookies at a time, as desired.
"Turtle" flavor refers to a combination of chocolate, caramel, and pecans! Named for the chocolate, caramel, and pecan candies that are shaped like little turtles! It's one of my favorite cookie flavors!
Yes! Freeze the pre-rolled cookie dough balls on a baking sheet, once frozen transfer to an airtight container and freeze for up to 6 weeks. The frozen dough can go straight from the freezer to the oven, just add 2-3 minutes to the cooking time.
Nope! You can regular unsalted butter if you prefer! I just love the way the brown butter pairs with the dark chocolate and pecans.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
More Recipes You Might Like!
If you love this recipe, please leave a star rating at the bottom of the page! This provides helpful feedback to both me and other readers.
Also be sure to add us as a trusted site on Google so that our recipes show up more in your searches!
For more delicious, scratch-made recipes you can subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on social media!
Recipe Card
Brown Butter Turtle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted brown butter, room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup caramels, chopped into small pieces
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup toasted pecans, chopped
- flaky sea salt, optional
Instructions
- Browning the butter is technically optional but the extra time is SO worth it! The biggest problem I see people run into when using brown butter in cookies, is not letting the butter cool completely to room temperature before adding it to the dough. So I highly recommend browning the butter the night before you want to make these caramel pecan chocolate chip cookies.
- Chop the caramels into smaller pieces (smaller chunks will melt better in the cookies). The caramel pieces will want to stick together, so I like to toss them in a tiny bit of the flour so that they won't clump up together in the batter.
- Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or hand mixer, cream the room temperature brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until light, fluffy, and pale in color. This should take 2-4 minutes which seems like a long time, but you'll see a huge difference in the texture afterwards.
- Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until thoroughly combined. The dough should be wet and sticky and you might think you need more flour but you don't!
- Gently fold the chocolate chips, chopped pecans, and caramel pieces into the cookie dough.
- Scoop a generous 3 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls. I use a size 20 cookie scoop. If desired, press some extra chocolate chips and caramel pieces into the tops of the cookie dough balls.
- Cover the dough balls and chill in the fridge overnight for best results. If you absolutely can't wait, just chill it for at least 2 hours.
- Chilling the dough is super important so that the cookies don't spread!
- To bake, place 2-3 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 350°F on the center rack of the oven for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are set and the centers are still soft.
- Remove from the oven and let rest on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- If desired, sprinkle the turtle cookies with flaky sea salt and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Shelley says
Have you ever tried freezing the dough?
Kyleigh Sage says
Yes! Freeze the pre-rolled cookie dough on a baking sheet, once frozen transfer to an airtight container and freeze for up to 6 weeks. The frozen dough can go straight from the freezer to the oven, just add 2-3 minutes to the cooking time.
Novah says
I have the cookies in the oven but I followed the recipe and the cookies look so good, can’t wait to try them!
Mya says
Amazing recipe!
Akeyah says
These were amazing
Allie says
Amazing cookies!