Crumbl Copycat Turtle Cookies

If you love the rich flavors of chocolate, caramel, and pecans, this is the recipe for you! These Crumbl Copycat Turtles are absolutely delicious and fun to make! 

What are Crumbl cookies? 

Crumbl Cookie shops are popping up all over the place! They are known for their over-the-top cookies in a variety of flavors. 

Crumbl cookies are quite large, big enough to share. For the sake of this recipe I decided to scale back a little bit on the size. I wanted something I could give away to some of the ladies in my Bible study group. 

I had a feeling they would love these Crumbl knock-off turtle cookies. . .and I was right!

What is a Turtle? 

Maybe you’ve stumble across this post and you’re unfamiliar with the term “turtle.” The original turtles candies (vaguely) resembled turtles in structure; hence the name. But they were made with three ingredients that were meant to go together: chocolate, caramel, and pecans. 

My mama was a pro at turtles candies and I’ve already shared her recipe in an earlier post. It’s a holiday favorite in our family. 

But, to make my favorite candy in cookie form? I will tell you guys the truth: when I saw this Crumbl copycat recipe I knew I had to give it a try. I had a feeling I would love it. 

And boy, did I! I’ll share more about my thoughts, but let’s dive right in and talk about how you’re going to make these delicious cookies, starting with the ingredients you’ll need. 

Turtle Cookie Ingredients

You will find a full printable recipe card at the bottom of this post but here’s a quick peek at what you will need to make these cookies. These are simple ingredients. You might already have them on hand! 

• butter (salted or unsalted butter, your choice)
• brown sugar
• granulated sugar
• egg
• pure vanilla extract
• all-purpose flour
• dutch processed cocoa powder (unsweetened cocoa powder)
• baking soda
• salt
• pecans (chopped)
• semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
• caramel sauce (or melted caramel chips)

These cookies have a lot of ingredients but they came together pretty easily. 

How to Make Crumbl Turtles Cookies

I’m going to give you step-by-step instructions so you can make these Crumbl cookie knock-offs in your own kitchen. They’re really simple to make but you have to use some care when you add the caramel and chocolate or you’ll end up with a mess like I did. More on that later. 

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk, then set aside. 

Cream butter, brown sugar, white and granulated sugar together at medium speed in a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) until light and fluffy.   Add egg and vanilla extract and continue to beat until lump free. 

Slowly work the dry ingredients (flour mixture) into the wet. 

Use a medium cookie scoop to form balls of dough. Roll edges of cookie dough balls in chopped pecans.

Place on prepared cookie sheet. 

Bake at 350 for 11 minutes or until set.

Remove and place cookie sheets on wire rack to cool completely for 20 minutes. 

Melt caramel chips and use a teaspoon or small scoop to add a dollop of the gooey caramel on top of the cookies. I accidentally put too much and it ran down the sides. Oops! (You’ll do a better job, I’m sure.) 

Now melt the chocolate chips (in 30-second increments). Mine took a minute and a half, total. Place a tiny spoonful on top of each cookie in the center of the caramel.

Sprinkle finely chopped pecans on top. 

Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes or until caramel and chocolate are set. This is an important part of the journey. You don’t want to eat these until the chocolate and caramel have had some time to firm up a bit. 

Serve and enjoy! 

Store in refrigerator in airtight container for 4 – 5 days. 

What to Expect from this Cookie

As I mentioned above, I had a bit of a problem with the amount of caramel I added, which caused it to run down the sides of the cookies. This made a bit of a mess but I managed to get it cleaned up just fine. 

These cookies taste just like my mom’s turtle candies, but with a fudgy brownie-like bottom. In fact, these reminded me of my Easy Cake Mix Brownies.

They are rich and decadent, and absolutely packed full of flavor and texture. You’ll feel like you’re in a Crumbl bakery, ordering up the real deal!

I can see now why Crumbl has done so well with this rich chocolate cookie. Now that I’ve had one, I can see the excitement! 

Variations on this Recipe

This is one of those copycat crumbl cookie recipes you’re going to love! But there are always ways to change things up!

Hershey’s Kiss in place of Melted Chocolate: Next time I might add a dollop of caramel and then place a Hershey’s Kiss on top. I could follow that up with a few chopped pecans. 

Brownie Mix in Place of Cookie: These were so much like brownie bites that I think it might be fun (and easy) to use brownie batter in place of the cookie dough. I’m guessing it would be wonderful! 

Mini Chocolate Chips in the Cookie Dough. (This would really take it up a notch!)

Coconut: These would be delicious with pecans and grated coconut on top. (Yum!) 

Jumbo Version: You can make these much larger using a couple tablespoons of dough instead of just a scoop. 

Large Cookie Scoop: You can use a large cookie scoop (basically, an ice cream scoop) to make large cookies, if you like.

Milk chocolate chips: You can always use milk chocolate in place in semi-sweet, if you prefer.

Other Favorite Cookies from Out of the Box Baking

• Pecan Toffee Cookies with Salted Caramel
• Chocolate Sugar Crinkle Cookies
• Easy Almond Joy Cookies 
• Golden Girls Cheesecake Cookies
• Crumbl Churro Cookie Copycat

That’s it for this post, friends! I hope you enjoyed this delicious recipe. Before you go, check out this list of Crumbl copycat recipes at Lifestyle of a Foodie and help me decide what to make next. 

By the way, if you make this recipe and love it, don’t forget to leave a review and a comment below. And while you’re at it, go ahead and pin some photos to your Pinterest boards!

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See this copycat crumbl turtle cookies recipe at:

Full Plate Thursday 

Weekend Potluck

The Lazy Gastronome

Busy Monday 

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About the Author

Janice Thompson is an author, baker, and all-around mischief maker! She has overcome a host of baking catastrophes, including a toppled wedding cake, to learn more about the baking process. Janice has published over 165 books for the Christian market but particularly enjoys writing recipes and baking devotions. To learn more about Janice or to drop her a note, visit her About the Author page.