Turtles

These are easy to make, surprisingly enough. And you finally get a chance to use that candy thermometer gathering dust in the drawer (um, well, mine was).

First, put some pecans on a baking sheet. The sheet must be lined with either parchment or a silpat. Group the pecans in threes or fours (see the picture to the left - 4 pecans under all that caramel).


Next, make the caramel.

Caramel

1 cup butter
1 & 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup (I used Golden Syrup)
one 14 ounce tin sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla

First, melt butter then stir in the sugar. Bring to a boil. Add syrup and bring to a boil again then add the milk. At this point you must stir it continuously and stick the thermometer in it and keep stirring until the temperature reaches 238ºF. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla then let it sit, stirring briefly, until it stops boiling and bubbling (5 minutes or so).

Once it starts to harden up a bit (this is a bit nebulous I realize but fiddle around and keep calm and you'll soon see what I mean) you can drop it by teaspoonfuls over your little piles of pecans. 

Then let them sit for at least a couple of hours, until the caramel is good and solid.

Then melt yourself some chocolate (dark or milk, the choice is yours) and dip them, again using either a silpat or parchment on a cookie sheet.

I halved this recipe when I made it, just because it seemed like such a lot of butter, and it made about 4 dozen turtles, so know that while it seems like a lot of butter and sugar and such, it actually makes a whack of candy.