Ooey Gooey Turtle Bars

It was about time for me to make a drool-worthy dessert- and what better time than the Bachelorette finale?! (Side note: Jef and Emily are SO cute!) These bars are the perfect mix of cookie and gooey turtle! I love how easy this recipe is; the crust is pre-made sugar cookie dough! You can also make tons of substitutions depending on what your sweet tooth is craving (peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips, no nuts, different nuts, etc).

(adapted from an old Knoxville News Sentinel recipe)

Ingredients:

1 roll of refrigerated sugar cookies

1 ¼ cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups chopped pecans

½ cup butter

½ cup packed light brow sugar

1 jar (12.25 oz.) caramel ice cream topping (mine was Smucker’s brand)

1 cup of graham cracker crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press roll of cookie dough in the bottom of an ungreased 9x13” pan.

Sprinkle ¾ cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup of chopped pecans on top of the sugar cookie.

Lightly press into the dough. Set aside.

Melt butter on medium-high in a 2 qt. saucepan. 

Stir in graham crackers, brown sugar, and caramel topping. Heat to a boil.

Pour the mixture over the sugar cookie crust.

Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup pecans on top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. The recipe is meant to cool for about 3 hours to form a bar-like consistency, but I won’t lie… I love it straight out of the oven on top of ice cream! It’s a wonderfully delicious gooey mess! BUT, if you’re serving them as bars, let them sit on a cooling rack for about 30 minutes. Loosen the sides from the pan. Let them cool for another 3 hours, cut in squares, and serve! The recipe makes about 24 bars.

-A