Bacon Pecan Turtle Recipe; These Are Shaped Like Turtles!

We love celebrating the feast of St. Kateri which happens each year on July 14. Fun recipes is one of our favorite ways to celebrate any feast day, and St. Kateri is no exception! Since St. Kateri’s father was the chief of the Turtle Clan in their Mohawk tribe, we thought it would be fun to make our own pecan turtles! These are extra fun because they’re actually shaped like turtles! You can find all of my ideas for celebrating St. Kateri’s feast day here. Now let’s dive into this pecan turtle recipe for St. Kateri’s feast day.

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These little turtle treats are perfect for displaying with my printable St. Kateri craft for kids, so be sure to download that now! (This whole pack will be super cute and useful come All Saints’ Day as well!) 

Ingredients For Chocolate Bacon Pecan Turtles

(makes 24)  Prep. Time 30 min.

• 3 1/2 cups of pecan halves 
• 6 strips of bacon (cooked crisp and crumbled small) Extra points for using maple bacon as the Mohawk natives were known for their maple syrup!!! 
• 12 oz. of chocolate chips (could be milk or semi-sweet depending on your preference)
• 24 waffle pretzels (the square kind that look like window panes)
• 1 bag of caramel squares (11 oz. )

How To Make Pecan Turtles That Look Like Turtles

Start by letting your kids unwrap all the pesky caramels for you. Pay them by letting them eat one 😉 

Now cover your baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. This is going to save you from a big sticky mess to clean up! You’re going to start by laying out your pretzels and pecans. There will be 5 pecans per turtle- 1 head and 4 legs for each one. They will kind of be in a “star” shape on your paper. 

Then lay a pretzel as a “shell” for each little turtle treat.

Now take a glass or other microwave safe bowl and spray it with spray cooking oil. Place the unwrapped caramels and milk in the bowl. Heat this mixture in 15 second increments, stirring each time, until fully melted. It should be warm and melted but not super hot or boiling. It will be kind of thick.

Using a spoon, drop a blob of caramel onto each pretzel square. Make sure that the blob overlaps all the legs and head to hold your little turtle together.

As you’re working, your caramel may get too cool and thick to blog correctly. If so, just pop it back in the microwave for about 10 seconds. As you can see, it’s not an exact science. 

Set the turtles aside and allow them to cool for about 35 minutes.

Place your chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl (again, I recommend spraying with spray oil first) with 1 tbsp. of water. Microwave the chocolate chips in 15 second increments, stirring between heatings, until they’re all melted as well. 

Now you can drop spoonfuls of the chocolate over the turtles, then quickly sprinkle on the bacon before the chocolate cools. 

Allow this to cool, then they’re ready to eat! 

We like to serve these with milk, because milk always makes chocolate more delicious!

I love how they actually look like little turtles! Doesn’t that make them adorable?! 

You can also serve these with my printable St. Kateri snack label craft. These little stand up Saints are so fun to make, display, and even play with!

We also displayed ours with blue straws and cupcake liners to represent the blue blanket St. Kateri was often seen wearing.

Extra tip: Be sure to store your turtles between layers of parchment paper to keep them from sticking to each other. 

You can find all of my ideas for celebrating the feast day of St. Kateri here.