Fork and Beans

Making food fun for the family

Vegan Chocolate Turtles

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I love it when I receive requests from you, super amazing readers and friends, about what you want to see over here–especially when whatever is on your mind is on mine as well. And I have been thinking a lot about Chocolate Turtles lately for some reason. It must have been because of all the chocolates I have been making. Oh, who knows why I think about half of things that I do. I swear the majority of my brain space is dominated by donuts (and that the honest-to-God truth!) With a close tie with potato chips, of course. I will have you know that I haven’t had a chip in a while though. I know. It’s a miracle.

Back to the chocolate, the Turles are something that I have yet to make so when Kat asked me to make my own version of Vegan Chocolate Turtles, I obeyed (as I usually do whenever she asks anything of me) 😉

Vegan Chocolate Turtles - Fork & BeansI chose to go with a raw caramel sauce because well, honestly I’m waiting for a plumber to come fix my kitchen sink and I needed something quick to make with an easy clean up. My sink isn’t wanting to do its proper job and actually drain water that comes from the tap. That causes a big problem with doing dishes. Grrrrr. That is why real caramel sauce was out of the question however if you would like to use a heated sauce, either follow this recipe or melt store-bought vegan caramels like Cocomels. They are super good with the raw caramel sauce however–if you have never made it before let this be your excuse to get to it!

Vegan Chocolate Turtles - Fork & Beans

Please see this post on tips for melting chocolate and all things chocolate-making if you run into any troubles.

A little idea on how I was able to create their shapes:

Vegan Chocolate Turtles - Fork & Beans

To make these completely raw, use this chocolate recipe. Just be careful! This will cause the turtles to be ultra-melty which inevitably means you will just have to eat them all in one sitting. Ahhh, the silver lining appears…

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Raw Chocolate Turtles - Fork & Beans

Vegan Chocolate Turtles

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Fork & Beans
  • Yield: 12 1x
Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 c. non-dairy chocolate chips, divided in half
  • 1/2 c. pecans
  • 1 recipe for raw caramel sauce (see below)

For Raw Date Caramel:

  • 4 Medjool dates, soaked in water for 1 hour and drained
  • 1 Tbsp. water
  • 1 tsp. maple syrup
  • 1 tsp. coconut oil, solid
  • 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. In a high-speed blender, whip up all the ingredients for the raw caramel sauce until completely smooth. Allow to chill in the refrigerator to cool down.
  2. Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
  3. Melt 1/2 c. of the non-dairy chocolate chips. Place in a Ziploc bag with a slit cut out of the corner and drip 1 tsp. of chocolate onto the parchment paper, making circles (see picture above). You may want to use the back of a spoon to flatten down a little bit.
  4. For each chocolate circle, place 6 pecan slices on top of the chocolate in the position for the head, legs, and tail (see picture above). Fill in the remainder of the chocolate with smaller pecan pieces (as seen above). Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
  5. Remove the sheet and pour the raw caramel sauce into a Ziploc baggie to pipe on top, about 1 tsp. worth. Freeze again while you melt the remainder 1/2 c. of chocolate.
  6. Pipe the remaining chocolate on top of the caramel. Smooth out with the back of a spoon to ensure it is evenly spread. PLEASE READ: Do this one at a time because the warm chocolate hitting the items that have been in the freezer will cause the chocolate to quickly harden. If you wait too long, your chocolate will be unworkable.
  7. Allow the turtles to fully set (either back in the freezer or if you keep them on the counter, they will harden as well).

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Turtle
  • Calories: 133
  • Sugar: 13.5g
  • Sodium: 13mg
  • Fat: 7.5g
  • Carbohydrates: 15.7g
  • Fiber: 1.4g
  • Protein: 1.7g

 

Makes me wonder whether or not plumbers can be paid in chocolate. If so, I have 12 turtles with his name on them in exchange for a working kitchen sink. Even swap. I will let you know if he buys into it…

Vegan Chocolate Turtles - Fork & Beans

 

 

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About Cara

Based in Chicago with her husband and son, Cara is the creator behind the site Fork and Beans: A place where kids can have fun with their food.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Stephanie

    Thanks for such an awesome recipe! These tasted out of this world. I’m making another batch now.

    ★★★★★

    • ANnie

      Do you know why these cute little treats have cholesterol in them? I am confused, as anything vegan automatically means cholesterol free. There’s no exceptions to that.

  4. Mary

    I can’t wait to make these! But did I miss how to make the swirl on top? Is it just extra of the same melted chips?

    • Cara

      That was just the special touch via moi 🙂 And yes you are right on, it’s the same melted chips 🙂

  5. Karly

    Ok, so i tried to make the caramel sauce and it was a complete flop. I tried to mix it up in a vitamix but i ended up having turn it off because the motor was getting to hot. Didn’t even spin the stuff around. Any suggestions? My kids would LOVE these!

    • Cara

      Hey Karly, sounds like you need to add some liquid in it. Try adding a tablespoon of water at a time. That should fix your problem 🙂 xo

  7. Lis

    These look amazing and I am so eager to make them! Could you recommend a particular kind of vegan chocolate chip? I feel like all the ones I look at say they “may contain milk.” Thanks so much!

  8. Libranmoonlover

    I am totally going to try to make Easter bunnies with vegan white chocolate and cashews, in addition to chocolate bunnies with pecans! Thanks sooooo much for this post!

    • Cara

      Okay for reals though, that is THE cutest idea! Will you send me a picture of it when you do???

  9. Anna

    I was really excited to try this recipe, but since I don’t have a high-speed blender, I tried to make the caramel in my food processor. Even doubling the listed quantities didn’t make enough to process. So now I have some chopped up dates with flecks of coconut oil instead of caramel. 🙁

  13. Sarah

    can you substitute the carmel for organic peanut butter?? My family aren’t really a huge carmel fans but i was worried if the peanut butter would ruin the taste? This looks amazing nonetheless, great work!!!

  16. ashley

    This recipe is so cute. Could you substitute California pitted dates for Medjool dates? I have 3 Medjool dates and a whole package for California pitted. I am really wanting to make these for my daughter’s valentine party. She loves the Ninja Turtles right now. There is no place locally to purchase Medjool dates.

    • Cara

      Oh absolutely, Ashley! I say use those remaining 3 along with the others and it should be just fine! I hope your daughter likes them 🙂

  17. Natalie Tamara

    These are the cutest chocolates ever! The raw caramel sounds dreamy too. They’ve already got me thinking of all the other variations of turtle there could be 😉

    • Cara

      What a super sweet thing to say Vicky–thank you so much! Let me know if you need anything while you are over here 🙂 xo Cara

    • Cara

      Thank you so much Annie! Scarily, it didn’t take me too long. It’s all about a steady hand 🙂 xo, Cara

    • Cara

      Just to ensure how tasty they really are, when my boyfriend ate one he exclaimed, “These taste they you bought them at the store!” Score 😉

  22. Molly (Based on a Sprue Story)

    Like others, I love that they’re actually in the shape of turtles! How adorable. I bought dates last week planning to make some sort of vegan caramel-y thing and then unfortunately we ate them all with peanut butter instead. Oh well. 🙂

    • Cara

      Well it sounds like someone is going to need to buy more dates 😉 But I’m loving the idea of dipping dates into peanut butter. I must try that! xo, Cara

  24. Sam

    These are so adorable! Nice job! I love how with the raw caramel sauce these are actually pretty healthy, and not really a guilty treat at all! So yummy! I am currently trying to figure out how to make a raw healthy “cream cheese frosting” right now. It’s so awesome when you can indulge without the guilt! Looking forward to trying these soon.

    • Cara

      You have one more combo ingredient than me. I usually just go for chocolate 😉 Hope you like them, Tess. Thank you for the comment. xo

  27. Kat

    These are so stinkin’ cute, I absolutely adore them!! Thank you for fulfilling my request, Cara! 🙂 Can’t wait to make these!

    The layering technique photos are fun and SUPER helpful! I’m excited about the raw caramel too, as I happen to have all the ingredients and this seems much easier than attempting regular caramel! 😉 Win win!

    Hope the plumber goes for the trade!! 😛

  28. Megan

    These look awesome!! I can’t wait to try them out 🙂 there is nothing cooler than a homemade box of chocolates for Valentines Day, food allergies or not! Thanks for sharing!!

Trackbacks

  4. […] us to find chocolate chips we trust to be vegan here, so this was awesome! Recently Athanasia found this recipe for vegan turtles so she had to try it (she loves cute little things like these  little vegan turtles). We adapted […]

  5. […] καραμέλα που μοιάζουν σαν χελωνάκια από το φοβερό blog Forks&Beans. Έχει μια διαδικασία αλλά όσες φορές τα έχω φτιάξει […]