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The Best Turtle Brownies

🐢🍫😍 Turtle Brownies are super fudgy brownies loaded with chocolate, pecans, and caramel! An easy, no-mixer recipe, these are the most INCREDIBLE BROWNIES that are LOADED with all the good stuff! Rich, decadent, and amazing! To save time, use store-bought caramel sauce.

Easy Turtle Brownies Recipe

Turtle candies . The chocolate-covered caramel and pecan clusters that I can eat five of in 5 minutes. I love those things. But turtle-inspired brownies are even better.

These are some of the best brownies I’ve ever had. The brownies are fudgy, not at all cakey, ridiculously rich, boldly chocolaty, and loaded with texture .
There’s a salted caramel and pecan filling that’s sandwiched inside dense brownies, and there’s chocolate chips and more pecans sprinkled on top .
It’s an easy, no-mixer recipe, and all my brownie recipes are very fudgy, dense, and what varies is the pan size, ratio, and amount of sugars, eggs, and whether I use melted chocolate, cocoa, or a combination.
These turtle brownies were show-stoppers and without a doubt, one of the best things I’ve made this year. I’ll never be satisfied with just a plain old turtle again.

These are the best brownies I’ve ever had! My husband says they rival the Claim Jumper chocolate cake for fudgy taste and texture. This is a recipe I will be making over and over. Adriana

Ingredients and Notes

To make these caramel turtle brownies, you’ll need:

Unsalted butter
Bittersweet chocolate
Eggs
Granulated sugar
Vanilla extract
Brewed coffee and instant espresso granules – Your brownies won’t taste like coffee, but it does enhance the chocolate taste
All-purpose flour – I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour, and can’t guarantee your results if you do
Salted caramel sauce – I use homemade caramel sauce, but you can skip the boiling by using a homemade caramel sauce. However, if keeping it, you need to use traditional caramel sauce in the turtle chocolate brownies, NOT caramel sundae sauce. Sundae sauce is runnier and thinner than regular caramel sauce
Chopped pecans – To achieve the classic turtle flavor, I made these as caramel and pecan brownies. However, you can use walnuts instead, noting that you won’t be using the traditional turtles ingredients
Semi-sweet chocolate chips – Substitute dark chocolate chips for an even richer taste, if preferred

Note : Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

Turtle brownies topped with pecans and chocolate chips. - 5

How to Make Turtle Brownies

This is a quick and easy turtle brownie recipe, but you MUST let the brownies cool for a few hours before slicing and serving. The caramel inside the brownies will be molten hot when taken out of the oven, and it needs quite a while to firm up and become safe to eat. The wait is worth it, promise!

Here’s an overview of how the brownies are made:

You’ll first need to whisk together the brownie batter in a large bowl, then pour about half into a foil-lined 8×8-inch baking dish greased with nonstick cooking spray.
Bake for about 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and top with a layer of caramel sauce and pecans. I used roasted, salted, whole pecan halves from Trader Joe’s. If your nuts are raw, toast them for 5 to 10 minutes in a 400°F oven to take the raw edge off and enhance the flavor.
Pour the remaining brownie batter over the caramel layer, then sprinkle with additional pecans and chocolate chips. Return the turtle brownies to the oven and bake for another 25 minutes or so.
Once out of the oven, these pecan brownies with caramel sauce need to cool in the pan for about 3 hours, or they’ll be a melty, gooey mess.
Then, they need to chill in the fridge for an additional 2 hours. After that, you can finally slice into these babies! Feel free to add an extra drizzle of caramel sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, too.

Double the recipe!

You can double this turtle brownies recipe and bake them in a 9×13-inch pan instead. Your bake time may need to be adjusted slightly, so use your best judgment.

Make Ahead Option

The brownies stay super fudge for up to 1 week, but I like storing them I the fridge and eating them slightly chilled. If serving to guests, I recommend making the brownies no more than 48 hours in advance for peak fudginess, however.

Wow, these brownies were so yummy and pretty easy to make. I took your recommendation and made your salted caramel sauce, so glad I did too!! It totally made for perfect turtle brownies! Thank you, this is definitely a keeper :) And so is the carmel sauce!! Danielle

Equipment

1 (8×8 inch) Baking Pan
1 Large, Microwave-Safe Bowl
1 Medium Bowl

Ingredients

Brownies

▢ ½ cup unsalted butter , 1 stick
▢ 6 ounces dark or bittersweet chocolate , chopped (I used Trader Joe’s 72% Pound Plus Bar)
▢ 2 large eggs
▢ ¾ cup granulated sugar
▢ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
▢ 1 tablespoon brewed coffee , leftover or cold coffee is okay, optional but recommended
▢ 1 teaspoon instant espresso granules , optional but recommended
▢ pinch salt , optional and to taste
▢ ¾ cup all-purpose flour

Filling

▢ 8 ounces salted caramel sauce , (use homemade, Trader Joe’s, or another favorite; plain is okay but I prefer salted caramel. Don’t use ice cream sundae sauce, it’s too thin)
▢ 1 heaping cup pecans , I use roasted, salted pecan halves; toast raw nuts for 5 to 10 minutes in a 400F oven to enhance flavor

Topping

▢ ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
▢ ½ cup pecans

Instructions

Make the brownies:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with high-quality aluminum foil such as Reynold’s Non-Stick (highly recommended so caramel doesn’t stick to pan) leaving overhang and spray with cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
In a large microwave-safe bowl, add the butter, chocolate, and heat on high power to melt, about 2 minutes. Stop to check and stir after 1 minute. Heat in 15-second increments until chocolate has melted and mixture can be stirred smooth. Allow mixture to cool momentarily before adding the eggs so they don’t scramble.
Add the eggs, sugar, vanilla, optional coffee, optional espresso granules (neither make brownies taste like coffee and both enhance and round out the chocolate flavor), optional salt, and whisk vigorously to combine.
Add the flour and stir until smooth and combined.
Turn half the batter out into prepared pan (I draw an imaginary line down the center of the batter with my spatula while it’s in the mixing bowl andeyeballing it, I pour half into pan); reserve remainder.
Bake for 15 to 16 minutes, or until top has just set in the center; don’t overbake because pan is going back into oven. While brownies bake, prepare the filling.

Make the Filling:

In a medium bowl, add caramel (microwave it for 10 seconds if your is very thick or hard to get out of the jar), pecans, and stir to combine; set aside.
After brownies have baked for about 15 minutes, remove pan from oven and using a spatula carefully and evenly spread the filling mixture over the brownies, taking care to not let the filling plop down in one spot because it will be difficult to spread without disturbing the brownie layer.
Evenly top with reserved brownie batter, smoothing it lightly with a spatula. It’s normal for it to have thickened up some.

For the Topping:

Evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.
Evenly sprinkle the pecans.
Bake for about 24 to 25 minutes, or until center has just set and is no longer glossy. It’s a bit hard to tell when done because center is buried under chocolate chips and pecans, but if you look closely you’ll be able to determine if you’re looking at raw brownie batter or just melted chocolate chips. The toothpick test is unreliable because you’re going to hit melted chocolate chips and then gooey caramel sauce so it’s better to just eyeball it.
Allow brownies to cool in pan on top of a wire rack for at least 3 hours.
Cover with a sheet of foil to prevent fridge smells, and place pan in fridge for another 2 hours, or until sufficiently chilled for slicing.
Lift brownies out using foil overhang, slice, and serve.

Notes

Brownies will keep airtight at room temp for up to 1 week, in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 6 months. I prefer these brownies slightly chilled and store them in the fridge.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Stack of fudgy turtle brownies with pecans and chocolate chips. - 8

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Originally posted July 12, 2014 and reposted with updated text March 1, 2024