Turtle Bars

By Samantha Seneviratne

Updated February 9, 2026

  • Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.
Media 1 of 1
Ready In
5 hr
(1 hr baking; 4 hr cooling)
Rating
5(266)
Comments
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This bake-sale classic features a sandy, soft crust, a layer of caramel and pecans, and a final chocolate topping. These small bars go a long way: Usually, the caramel layer is thin and tends to melt into the crust, but this version doubles the caramel for a rich, buttery confection. Perfect for the lazy baker, the caramel cooks in the oven, making a candy thermometer unnecessary. The pecans toast while they simmer in the bubbling caramel, resulting in deep toasty flavors without much work at all.

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Ingredients

Yield:About 48 bars

For the Crust

  • 10 tablespoons/141 grams salted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan

  • 2½ cups/320 grams all-purpose flour

  • ¾ cup/165 grams packed light or dark brown sugar

  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

  • 2 cups/210 grams roughly chopped pecans 

For the Topping

  • 1¼ cups/282 grams salted butter, cut into pieces

  • 1½ cups/330 grams packed light or dark brown sugar

  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

  • 2 cups/346 grams semisweet chocolate chips or chopped bar chocolate

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

20 grams carbs; 19 milligrams cholesterol; 192 calories; 4 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 13 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 87 milligrams sodium; 1 gram protein; 14 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13-by-9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Butter any of the exposed pan.

  2. Prepare the crust:

    1. Step 2

      In a large bowl, beat together the butter, flour, brown sugar and salt with an electric mixer on medium speed until the crumbs are evenly moistened. (The mixture will be sandy.)

    2. Step 3

      Tip into the prepared pan and press down into an even, flat layer using a flat-bottomed measuring cup or an offset spatula. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the crust.

  3. Prepare the topping:

    1. Step 4

      In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, sugar and salt over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the caramel evenly over the crust and pecans. 

    2. Step 5

      Bake until the nuts smell toasty and the caramel is bubbling evenly over the entire surface, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and then carefully sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top. Let stand for 5 minutes and then carefully spread the chocolate out into an even layer.

    3. Step 6

      Let the bars cool to room temperature, about 2 hours, then pop them in the fridge to set for 30 minutes. 

    4. Step 7

      Transfer to a cutting board and cut into 1-by-2-inch bars. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months. (If freezing the bars, let them thaw before serving.)

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Ratings

5 out of 5
266 user ratings
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Comments

Tall Joe

These are great -- essentially a layer that approximates pecan pie topped with a layer than approximates fudge. Most importantly, if you stick the finished product outside in 10 F weather, you can cut the cooling time down to ~90 min., meaning less waiting to dig in! Notes: oven time took about 25 min to achieve a uniformly bubbly surface. Also, we were about 50g short on semi sweet chocolate so substituted 100% dark. The flavor was 👌

Margaux Laskey, Associate Editor, NYT Cooking

Be sure to use salted butter here. That is really key!

Lucy longden

Can I skip the pecans to able millionaires shortbread???? And what about making the sandy shortbread in a food processor, like I normally do? Any issue with that method?

Cheryle C.

I wish I followed the suggestions to use less sugar— I used dark sugar and followed the recipe by weight, and it was two sweet unless your bar portion is really just a bite or two. Next time, I’d add less sugar in both crust and caramel. Nice texture though, and easy-ish to make. I’m not sure why my caramel split/separated, but I was able to rescue it off heat by whisking it with a few drops of cool water.

Veronica

My first impression was that these were overly sweet, but cut into small squares and shared over the week with friends, they were such a hit that I'm going to put them into rotation for holidays and events.

Phyllis

Can these be made with gluten free flour?

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