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12.03.16

Paleo Double Chocolate Turtle Bars

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Gooey double chocolate turtle bars with a chewy chocolate cookie crust, a dreamy salted caramel pecan layer and lots of chocolate drizzled on top.  They’re grain free, dairy free and Paleo made with real food ingredients yet taste completely decadent.Turtle Bars with a chewy chocolate cookie layer, gooey caramel pecan layer and creamy chocolate shell! Gluten free, grain free, dairy free and makes a great holiday dessert!

My impulsivity is not always a good thing.  This time, I got lucky and it was – a random Friday night experiment that I dove into with no plan whatsoever – just visions of creamy chocolate and caramel floating around in the “dessert” section of my brain, but really, that’s nothing unusual for me.

Fast forward to the next morning (I stuck the bars in the fridge after baking and went to bed) and with the first cut I knew right away that something good had come out of the experiment.  Texture can be everything, right?  That first cut was all I needed to know – I had already given a thumbs up to the unbaked dough/caramel layer the night before, and obviously the chocolate on top was good to go.

Turtle Bars with a chewy chocolate cookie layer, gooey caramel pecan layer and creamy chocolate shell! Gluten free, grain free, dairy free and makes a great holiday dessert!

But, the texture of bars/brownies/other baked goods (especially Paleo) is often a mystery when you’re trying something new.  You might not know exactly what you’re cutting into until your recipe is baked and fully cooled.

I would take Forest Gump’s “life is like a box of chocolates..” and one-up it with “life is like a pan of Paleo brownies – you won’t know what you’re dealing with until they’ve cooled for 3 hours and you can cut through the center” um, or something.  If that makes any sense to you, please fill me in.

Turtle Bars with a chewy chocolate cookie layer, gooey caramel pecan layer and creamy chocolate shell! Gluten free, grain free, dairy free and makes a great holiday dessert!But anyway, I’m impulsive (ah, as you might be able to gage from my writing.)  When it comes to recipes for the blog, I would say I do 90% of my cooking/baking in the morning/early afternoon.  I’m at my sharpest before lunch, it’s light enough for photos, plus the days tend to get crazier as they go on.  Between the hours of 3pm and 7 my life becomes a drop off/pick up/make dinner and say boring mom things like “did you do your homework?” and “clean up the living room” and “stop hurting each other!”

It works well this way, because generally my impulsive nighttime recipe testing results in disasters like adding twice the amount of coconut oil to something because I temporarily forgot that 4 TBSPs is not 1/2 cup.  That is no flipping joke – I literally made that mistake two nights ago.  Ugh.  I’m still mourning that loaf of bread.

Turtle Bars with a chewy chocolate cookie layer, gooey caramel pecan layer and creamy chocolate shell! Gluten free, grain free, dairy free and makes a great holiday dessert!

But sometimes, like with these double chocolate turtle bars, things magically work out.  The bottom layer is sort of a cross between a chocolate cookie crust and a brownie, baked about halfway before pouring on the second layer.

The caramel layer is perfectly salted with just the right amount of chopped pecans, and is baked to gooey perfection right before sprinkling with lots of chocolate chips that melt and swirl – and then cool – to form a chocolate shell on top.  Double chocolate turtle bars!  Perfect dessert for the holiday season or really anytime you’re craving caramel and chocolate, AKA ALWAYS!  Let’s get started!

Paleo Double Chocolate Turtle Bars

Turtle Bars with a chewy chocolate cookie layer, gooey caramel pecan layer and creamy chocolate shell! Gluten free, grain free, dairy free and makes a great holiday dessert!

Paleo Double Chocolate Turtle Bars

Gooey double chocolate turtle bars with a chewy chocolate cookie crust, a dreamy salted caramel pecan layer and lots of chocolate drizzled on top. They're grain free, dairy free and Paleo made with real food ingredients yet taste completely decadent.
Author: Michele Rosen
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Grain free and Paleo
Servings: 16 bars
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Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review
4.27 from 26 votes

Ingredients

For the chocolate cookie layer:

  • 1/2 cup creamy cashew butter
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup coconut flour
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder or raw cacao
  • pinch salt

For the Caramel Pecan Layer:

  • 1 and 1/3 cups full fat coconut milk*
  • 5 Tbsp organic coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
  • 3/4 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/3 cup dark chocolate morsels I used Enjoy Life Brand or your favorite dark chocolate chips/chopped chocolate

Instructions

  1. Make the cookie layer first. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line an 8 x 8" baking dish with parchment paper along the bottom and up the sides.
  2. Mix together the cashew butter, coconut sugar, and eggs until creamy. I used a hand mixer for this part.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the coconut flour, cocoa powder and salt, then stir this mixture into the wet ingredients until fully combined. The dough will be sticky - chill it in the fridge for about 5 minutes - this will firm it up a bit as well as give the coconut flour time to settle and absorb moisture.
  4. Now it's time to press the chocolate cookie dough into the parchment lined baking dish. The dough will still be sticky to work with even after chilled - I recommend wetting your hands just slightly to press/spread the dough evenly into the bottom of the dish. After pressing in the cookie dough, bake it in the preheated oven for 10 minutes**
  5. To make the caramel, heat the coconut milk* and coconut sugar over medium heat in a small saucepan, stirring to blend. Bring the mixture to a boil (I typically raise the heat to medium/hi for this, you can increase the heat depending on your stovetop) while stirring.
  6. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer (this might be med/low or med depending on your stove, it should be bubbling but not boiling over) and continue to cook, stirring to avoid the sugar burning, until the mixture is thickened and deep caramel in color***
  7. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, salt and chopped pecans, then spread the caramel pecan mixture over the chocolate cookie layer (after baking 10 minutes) and return to the oven to bake for another 12 minutes or until the middle begins to bubble.
  8. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with the chocolate chips. Once they melt, use a toothpick to gently swirl the melted chocolate all over the top of the bars.
  9. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until completely cooled, then cut into squares and serve. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

*I chill the can prior to opening, discard half the "water" and blend up the rest before using
**be careful not to overtake since you'll be baking it again with the caramel layer
***This can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on your stove, mine seems to take less time than others!

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @PaleoRunningMomma on Instagram and hashtag it #PaleoRunningMomma

What I Used to Make my Double Chocolate Turtle Bars:


paleo-double-chocolate-turtle-cookie-bars

Ooey gooey #paleo double chocolate turtle cookie bars #grainfree #glutenfree #holidays

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Want more Paleo brownies and bars?  Try one of these!

Flourless Caramel Frosted Brownies

Triple Chocolate Sweet Potato Brownies

Caramel Pecan Fudge Bars with Cookie Crust

Cranberry Crumb Cookie Bars

Paleo Magic Cookie Bars {Vegan}

Paleo Caramel Pecan Cheesecake Bars

Tell Me!

Michele

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Paleo Running Momma!

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About Michele

More than a little into running and paleo recipes (yoga now too!) but I'm not here to rain on your grains (or anything else) so come along for the ride! I do a little too much of everything (except cleaning), and I enjoy laughing at myself. As long as I'm the one making the jokes, that is. Just kidding. So bring me your angst, your appetite and your frying pan and climb aboard!

Reader Interactions

Reader Reviews & Comments

  1. Megan @ Skinny Fitalicious says

    December 3, 2016 at 8:52 am

    These look amazing! Cashew butter for the win. My best recipes are always the ones I didn’t plan and just have a thought that comes together just right.

    Reply
    • Michele says

      December 5, 2016 at 3:52 pm

      I live for those recipes! Such a nice boost they give us 🙂

      Reply
  2. Emily says

    December 3, 2016 at 12:24 pm

    I LOVE all of your paleo bar recipes; so so good and gooey and delicious. This one looks like a winner too, and I usually am not a good ‘night baker’ either. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Kylie says

    December 4, 2016 at 2:42 am

    Oh my, what have you done! My sweet tooth is thanking you while my dress size is not 😉 So excited to make these for Christmas party desserts!

    Reply
  4. Bethany @ athletic avocado says

    December 4, 2016 at 11:59 am

    Ahhhh don’t you just love the feeling when your recipe turns out better than expected? I always feel inadequate when I’m baking paleo, because I truly never know what I’m going to get. Thankfully, these delicious looking bars turned out amazing! I love turtle {the flavor and the animal ;)} and chocolate together 🙂

    Reply
    • Michele says

      December 5, 2016 at 3:43 pm

      It’s hard to experiment sometimes and I HATE failed recipes! But such a nice surprise when things are better than expected, even better when it can be replicated and then tweaked with a new flavor.

      Reply
  5. Monica says

    December 4, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    5 stars
    Wow, these look insanely delicious. Can you Fedex some my way? I’ll be waiting! 😉

    Reply
    • Michele says

      December 5, 2016 at 3:42 pm

      Haha they are definitely yummy! Hope you try 🙂

      Reply
      • Laura says

        December 24, 2019 at 7:50 pm

        They look delicious, but I’m a bit confused by the instructions for the cookie layer. Vanilla is listed as an ingredient for both layers but when I printed the recipe I can’t find it in the instructions for the cookie layer. Do I add it with step two, three, or was it a typo and it’s only for the other layer?

        Reply
  6. Meghan@CleanEatsFastFeets says

    December 7, 2016 at 10:52 am

    Turtle bars are some of my favorite and these look just as magical. Congrats on the impulsive win.

    Reply
  7. Brittney says

    December 9, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    What’s the best sub for cashew butter? And would chia eggs work for the eggs? Unfortunately dealing with multiple allergies and leaky gut in our household??

    Reply
    • Michele says

      December 9, 2016 at 1:36 pm

      I’ve never used chia eggs so I’m not sure, sorry! If you do try it, let me know.

      For the nut butter you can sub any nut or seed butter and the texture will remain the same, however the flavor will change depending on what you use. Hope this helps!

      Reply
  8. paleo_dodger says

    February 7, 2017 at 12:25 pm

    5 stars
    I made these and they were beyond delicious! I have to pace myself from making them again too soon.

    Reply
  9. Tara says

    May 25, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    Oh my gosh, these look so good! I am trying to think about whether I have all these ingredients right now, if not I’ll improvise. I gottagotta have them!
    Thanks
    Tara

    Reply
  10. Bethany Collins says

    October 15, 2017 at 3:09 pm

    5 stars
    These are amazing! I was at a party last night whereby someone brought them for dessert! They were the winner!! Delicious and just perfect! The caramel, pecans, chewy chocolate brownie… amazing! I made sure that I received the recipe before she left! Thank you for sharing! Also, will be trying more of your recipes!! 🙂

    Reply
    • Michele says

      October 17, 2017 at 11:48 am

      I’m so thrilled you liked these – yay!

      Reply
  11. Sejal says

    December 8, 2017 at 8:11 pm

    5 stars
    Oh my, these were so delicious. I am 29 weeks pregnant and have been having such a sweet tooth with this pregnancy. Your recipes have certainly been fulfilling my cravings. These especially don’t taste Paleo but are so ridiculously delicious. My only problem is that the when I put the chocolate chips on top, they just kind of melted into the Carmel when I sweetie it in. But it was still yummy.

    Reply
    • Michele says

      December 8, 2017 at 8:47 pm

      So happy you liked these and it helped that sweet craving!

      Reply
  12. Jamie says

    March 30, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    5 stars
    Has anyone made this in a skillet? If so, it sounds amazing to eat warm with vanilla halo top on it.

    Reply
  13. Cleaner Melbourne says

    June 10, 2018 at 1:41 pm

    Thanks so much with regard to giving my family an update
    on this topic on your web page. Please understand that if
    a new post appears or when any changes occur with the current post, I would be interested in reading
    more and focusing on how to make good utilization of those
    strategies you write about. Thanks for your efforts and consideration of other individuals by making your blog available.

    Reply
  14. Kayla says

    June 28, 2018 at 8:34 am

    How in the world did you spread the sticky batter into the parchement covered pan??? My parchment was sliding all over the place even with some coconut oil in the corners. The batter just stuck and did not want to spread anywhere. I switched to my fingers and I think more of it stayed on my hands than in the pan! Help!

    Reply
    • Michele says

      June 30, 2018 at 8:33 pm

      Chilling might help, or wetting your hands a bit.

      Reply
    • wendy says

      May 13, 2020 at 3:50 pm

      take another piece of parchment paper and press batter down- it worked perfectly!

      Reply
  15. Kylie Anne Colthurst says

    August 18, 2018 at 3:14 am

    You are a very clever smart woman, Yours is one of my favourite blogs in the whole world

    Reply
  16. Heather says

    September 30, 2018 at 8:40 pm

    I used coconut cream that’s been in the fridge for a day and coconut sugar. It won’t thicken. Why not?

    Reply
  17. Marie says

    November 17, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    Hi I have coconut milk and coconut cream. Can I substitute the coconut cream for the coconut milk?

    Reply
    • Michele says

      November 18, 2018 at 6:19 pm

      Yes that should work well for this.

      Reply
  18. Engi says

    December 11, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    Would flax eggs work with this recipe?

    Reply
    • Michele says

      December 13, 2018 at 12:20 pm

      I believe so, not totally sure though since it uses coconut flour. You can probably use my double chocolate cookies (the dough) as a base which uses flax eggs and almond flour.

      Reply
  19. elizabeth says

    May 26, 2020 at 4:06 pm

    someone please help…. I have tried this recipe twice and I cannot get the carmel layer to thicken. Any ideas?

    Reply

Trackbacks

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Hi! I’m so happy you stopped by! My name is Michele and I’m a Paleo eater and recipe creator, runner, mom of 3, and the gal behind Paleo Running Momma! Over here you’ll find real-food, clean eating family favorites that you’ll be excited to share with your loved ones. I hope you stay awhile, eat, savor, and enjoy!

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