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vegan turtle cookies
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5 from 11 votes

Vegan Turtle Cookies

Vegan turtle cookies, filled with caramel and crusted with pecans and topped with a chocolate drizzle. They're satisfyingly sweet with a kick of salty caramel.
Prep Time40 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: vegan turtle cookies
Servings: 12
Calories: 190kcal
Author: Richard Makin

Ingredients

For the Caramel

  • 23 g cashews (raw unsalted - soaked in boiling water for at least 2 hours)
  • 40 g water
  • 50 g coconut cream the solid white stuff at the top of a can of
    refrigerated coconut milk)


  • 100 g caster sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste)
  • pinch flaky sea salt

For the Cookies

  • 1 teaspoon psyllium husk powder
  • 3 teaspoon water
  • 65 g vegan butter (at room temperature)
  • 65 g granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoon plant milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste)
  • 65 g plain white flour
  • 25 g cocoa powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 35 g pecans (roughly chopped)

For the Chocolate Topping

  • 50 g vegan dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
  • 13 g odourless coconut oil (aka refined coconut oil)

Instructions

To Make the Caramel

  • Pour the soaking cashews into a sieve and discard the soaking water. Give them a quick wash under cold water. Shake off any excess water and add them to the cup of a high-speed blender.
  • Add the 40g/ml of water to the cup and blend on high speed until very smooth. Add the coconut cream and then blend again until smooth.
  • In a medium saucepan over medium/low heat, add the caster sugar. Stirring constantly, melt the caster sugar until it is completely liquid. Very carefully, allow the sugar to caramelise, making sure it doesn't go too dark. You're aiming for a nice caramel brown colour with some tiny bubbles rising from the outsides.
  • As soon as the caramelised sugar starts to bubble, remove it from the heat and add the cashew/coconut cream mixture. Don't stir, as the reaction can be a little spluttery. Leave it to calm down for a few seconds, then gently stir together the cream and caramel until smooth.
  • Once you have a smooth caramel, add the vanilla and the sea salt and stir. Leave to cool to room temperature.

To Make the Cookies

  • Preheat the oven to 175c.
  • In a small bowl, mix together the psyllium husk powder and the water. Set aside to thicken.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the vegan butter and the sugar until smooth. Add the thickened psyllium husks along with the plant milk and vanilla and beat well to combine.
  • In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa and salt. By hand, beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, spoon by spoon, being careful not to overwork the mix.
  • Using a cookie or ice cream scoop, scoop balls of dough onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Depending on the size of your scoop, you should get between 8 and 12 balls of dough.
  • Add your pecan pieces to a small bowl and, one by one, dunk the balls of dough into the pecans, making sure the pecans stick to the dough. Arrange the dunked dough back onto the baking sheet, leaving spread-room between each cookie.
  • Using your thumb or the back of a melon baller/coffee scoop, firmly press down the centre of each ball of dough to make a dent in the middle.
  • Place in the oven and bake for around 13 minutes.
  • Once baked, remove from the oven and use the same melon baller/coffee scoop to press down the "thumb-print' again if it has puffed up! Leave to cool fully.

To Finish the Cookies

  • Once fully cooled, spoon a teaspoon or so of the room-temp caramel into the centre of each cookie and place back on the baking tray. Once all cookies are filled, place in the fridge to cool for fifteen minutes.
  • While the cookies chill, make the chocolate topping. In a double boiler or in a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, mix together the chocolate and the coconut oil.
  • Once melted and fully combined and smooth, take the cookies out of the fridge. Drizzle generously with the chocolate and then return to the fridge to allow the chocolate to set.
  • Once set, serve the cookies straight away from fridge temperature.

Nutrition

Serving: 1grams | Calories: 190kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 91mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 16g