Chocolate turtle cookies

I made these cookies for the administrative assistants at my work for AA day. They're beauties, aren't they? For how beautiful they look, they were actually really easy to make. The thing that takes the longest is probably waiting for your butter to come to room temperature. Speaking of which, I read a trick to speed up the process. Measure out your butter and put it between two pieces of wax paper, pound it with a rolling pin until it's soft. No more waiting for butter to softened. I'm not sure where I got this from, but I'm thinking such cleverness must come from Cook's Illustrated.

The AAs loved them, but I thought they weren't chocolaty enough. I think that has to do with the fact that I ran out of my good cocoa powder and had to resort to Nestle cocoa powder. (note to self and you, of course: do not buy Nestle cocoa powder!!) I love the caramel in the middle...yum!! I would suggest using a really good cocoa powder and maybe add a little extra.

Here's the recipe.

Chocolate Turtle Cookies
adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg, separated, plus 1 egg white
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts, chopped fine (see note)
14 soft caramel candies
3 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat liners. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until just combined. Refrigerate dough until firm, at least 1 hour.

2. Whisk egg white(s) in another bowl until frothy. Place walnuts in another bowl. One at a time, roll dough into 1-inch balls, dip in egg whites, then roll in walnuts. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Using teaspoon measure, make indentation in center of each ball. Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking.

3. Meanwhile, microwave caramels and cream in bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Once cookies are removed from oven, gently press existing indentations with teaspoon measure. Fill each with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon caramel mixture. Cool 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

Note:

• *The original recipe calls for pecans, I only had walnuts so that's what I used.