I Hold All The Cards: Caramel Pecan Clusters: Turtles

Every holiday I make a special treat for my husband to bring into his coworkers. For Easter he requested that I make Turtles. I'd made them in college when I took a confectionary class but that was the first and last time. They take quite a bit of time. I'm glad I made these again though. They are soooo...yummy!

My three year old helped me put the pecans on the aluminum foil and he was by my side the whole time I was making these. I'm not going to post the recipe because of copywrite but I guarantee you will love this book if you get it. I've tried almost every recipe and all of them are wonderful and impressive. The book was actually my textbook for my class.

A word of advice if you do try this recipe:

It says it yields 60 but I usually get 30 turtles when I make it
You need to make sure your candy thermometer is accurate by seeing what temperature a pot of water boils. It should be 212 degrees F. If it is higher or lower you will need to adjust the recipe to suit your thermometer. A few degrees can make the difference between a ruined or perfect batch of candy.
Dip a pastry brush in warm water and wipe the insides of the pot while the caramel is cooking. It will prevent clumps of sugar forming. If you don't do this then your whole batch can crystallize and it will be ruined.
Have all your ingredients and measuring cups and spoons within reach. You don't want to have to walk away from the caramel while it is cooking.
Use Melting chocolate for dipping the turtles. This will save you from having to temper that chocolate. You can get melting chocolate at any craft store or in the cake isle of Walmart.
Read your recipe thoroughly so you are more prepared and understand each step. You have to act quickly when you are working with caramel or it will harden before you do what you need to do with it.
Email me if you have questions briellekennington @ gmail . com