Snappy Turtle Cookies
Ingredients
1 Cup salted butter, softened
1 Cup brown sugar (light or dark)
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple flavoring (maple extract)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 Cups all-purpose flour
4 Cups pecan halves
1 (16 ounce) container of milk chocolate frosting
Directions
Place the softened butter and the brown sugar to a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment) and cream together until fluffy.
Add the remaining wet ingredients (the eggs, vanilla extract, and maple flavoring), and stir to combine.
Slowly add the dry ingredients (the baking soda, salt, and flour) to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined and a dough is formed.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (up to overnight). Chilling helps you shape dough into the turtle bodies without it being sticky.
While the dough chills, place groups of 4 pecan halves on your cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Be sure the place them so the tips of pecans will be able to show once you place your dough balls onto them.
Preheat the oven to 350°F, and roll dough into 1-inch balls (I like to use a small cookie scoop to make this even easier!) and gently press a dough ball onto each set of pecan legs.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are a light golden brown and just set (do not over bake!). Allow to cool on the pan for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Once completely cool, frost tops of each turtle with milk chocolate frosting to create the shells. Allow the frosting to set before storing.
