Scrumptious Turtle Bars

These Scrumptious Turtle Bars are a great homemade dessert for everyone. Perfect for gifting as an edible gift during the festive season. From children to adults, no one can resist them. They don’t take long to pull together and are a beloved treat for the holiday.

I adore Christmas baking and always like to try something new. There are old standbys that my family would revolt if I didn’t make, but I like to sneak some new ones in too! We give away lots of our baking as gifts, and everyone has always been grateful to receive it.

Turtles at the holidays are my favorites; who doesn’t love chocolate and caramel together!! So we make these Homemade Chocolate Turtles every year. Another one of our favorites is the One Pan Magic Cookie Bars which are similar to the recipe that we have for you today or try our new Millionaire Shortbread bars, they will amaze you with how delicious they are.

WHAT ARE IN TURTLE BARS?

Very simple ingredients go into this bar recipe. All are found easily at your local grocery store except for maybe caramel bits as they are a newer product. You can substitute other chips that you may easily find, like butterscotch chips or Skor bars crushed, but if you can find them, they make a perfect caramel layer.

Caramel bits may only be found in grocery stores for the holidays. They are found on Amazon, and a link is provided above. They are just like square caramels that you traditionally see but are made the size of chocolate chips for easy baking.

HOW ARE TURTLE BARS MADE

I like the cookie bottom that these bars have as opposed to a graham cracker crust. After the cookie layer then the recipe gets very simple as you just add one layer at a time after that. No standing over a hot stove stirring constantly making caramel. This recipe you will love as it is so easy. Let’s dive in.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 7×11 baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the 1/3 cup brown sugar and the 1/2 cup butter until smooth with an electric hand mixer. Next, stir in, and continuously, the flour and sea salt until well combined.

Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden brown.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the crust, followed by the pecans, then the caramel bits.

Pour the sweetened condensed milk over everything, trying to cover the top as best you can. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown on top. 

Remove from oven and let the bars cool in the pan completely. Once they are cooled completely, cut them into bars and serve.

NOTES

These bars are addictive, chewy, and soft! Chocolate is the predominant flavor. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips since we added even more sweet ingredients, but use the variety of chocolate chips you prefer. 

You can even mix up the chocolate chips or other toppings, as long as you keep the same ratio. Feel free to make them your own.

ARE THESE LIKE MAGIC BARS?

This turtle bar is a delicious recipe ideal for the holidays and festive season. It goes well with other desserts on your dessert platter. The squares can be cut into much smaller pieces and served as a much smaller treat too, or as shown, which would be a full dessert. Turtle bars are, of course, named after the very popular turtle chocolates that everyone loves at the holidays.

These turtle bars are a combination of homemade cookies and candies. It’s a multi-layer of ingredients put together in one pan.

Magic cookie bars are similar and are just as quick and easy to make. These bars are generally layers of various ingredients stacked together to provide a delicious bite. There are a few alterations to the classic recipe, i.e., 5 or 7 layer Magic bars.

The bars usually consist of the cracker crust with a topping of chocolate chips, nuts, etc. Magic cookie bars are baked until perfectly light brown. Both magic bars and turtle bars have sweetened condensed milk that holds all the ingredients together.

So are turtle bars similar to Magic Bars? Both of them are tasty layered delicacies that make for a great dessert. Although the recipe and ingredients may vary, both are amazing treats for the holiday season.

WANT MORE CHRISTMAS TREATS?

We have loads of holiday treats for you now, here at Noshing With The Nolands. Basically, if you have a sweet tooth or not, you will find something to love and to enjoy making and sharing. Here are a few of our favorites from over the years.

Christmas Sugar Cookies – Sugar Cookies are fantastic for making ahead and freezing for later. It makes for a fun and playful activity for children to help with these Sugar cookies. Bake and decorate as you like! Add some sprinkles, colored sugars, and other exciting decorations to jazz it up. Being creative is the key here; other than that, no rules here.

Cookie Cutter Christmas Fudge – A great holiday treat and gift that is super easy to make. Perfect for beginners too. This Cookie Cutter Fudge recipe is luscious, chocolatey, and creamy. Gift it for Christmas and even Valentine’s Day. The added bonus is that the recipient gets to keep the cookie cutter too!

Reindeer Cookies – Reindeer Cookies are another yummy Christmas treat. These are made with a standard gingerbread cookie cutter but turned upside down. Now that is a good repurpose!! Add on some ears, antlers, eyes, mouth, and of course a red nose!!

Copycat Almond Roca – This is is one of my ultimate favorites. Rich caramel with crunchy almonds and both white and semi-sweet chocolate makes this the perfect confection for the holidays. 

Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies – These cookies are the perfect buttery bite-sized morsels! They dress up any cookie platter and are the most fun cookies to customize and decorate. I’ve tried a lot of Spritz cookie recipes, but this one is my most favorite!

Holiday Mini Butter Tarts – With simple ingredients and pre-made tart shells, this recipe is whipped up in no time. It makes lots to feed a crowd or to give as gifts. This will be your new go-to recipe for the holidays. 

30 Cute Christmas Desserts and More – Do you like making cute Christmas desserts? We have done many over the years, and they are fun to make. We have lots to show you and have also added in a few fun crafts too!!

Pin it HERE!!

Pin it HERE!!

Scrumptious Turtle Bars

Tara Noland

Scrumptious Turtle Bars are a holiday treat that you will want to add to your baking this year!! They can be served as a large bar or cut down into smaller bites to be added to your cookie platters. Layers of chocolate, pecans, and caramel are always a hit for the Christmas season.

4.84 from 91 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 15 squares

Calories 356 kcal

Video

Ingredients

 

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• pinch of fine sea salt
• 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 & 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 & 1/2 cups caramel bits
• 12 ounces sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 7×11 baking dish with foil and spray with cooking
  spray, set aside.
      
  In a large bowl, cream the butter with the brown sugar until smooth with an electric
  hand mixer. Slowly stir in the flour and sea salt until combined. Press the
  mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes until
  lightly golden brown.
      
  Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the crust, followed by the pecans, then the
  caramel bits. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over everything trying to cover
  the top as best you can. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown on top. 
       
  Let the bars cool in the pan completely. Once they are completely cool, cut them
  into bars and serve.

Equipment

Hershey’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Chips – 12 oz – 2 pk

Kraft Caramel Bits, 11oz Bag, 1 CT (PACK – 6)

Pyrex Basics 2 Quart Glass Oblong Baking Dish, Clear 7 x 11 inch (Pack of 2)

Notes

These bars are addictive, chewy, and soft! Chocolate is the predominant flavor. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips since we added even more sweet ingredients, but use the variety of chocolate chips you prefer. 

You can even mix up the chocolate chips or other toppings, as long as you keep the same ratio.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Calories: 356kcalCarbohydrates: 48gProtein: 5gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 90mgFiber: 2gSugar: 39g

Nutrition calculation is an estimation only. If you need nutritional calculations for medical reasons, please use a source that you trust.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!