Growing up, one of my favorite things about Christmas at home was the mass amounts of Christmas candies and desserts that my mother would make. We have this long hutch in our dining room that my mother would fill to the brim with tins. In each tin would be a different candy or cookie, all homemade (never store bought). Everything from molasses cookies, to fudge, to peanut butter balls and my father's favorite, turtles. These delicious sweets are very similar to Goo Goo Clusters, but are a much simpler version. I served these and some other treats at my Blogger's Favorite Things party I hosted this past Sunday -- more to come on that tomorrow!

Chocolate Christmas Turtles

• One package of Kraft caramels
• 3 cups of pecan halves 
• Half a bag of Gheradelli dark chocolate baker's chips (or your favorite brand of baking chips)
• 2 Tablespoons of Heavy Whipping Cream
• Wax paper
• Butter or cooking spray
• Microwave safe melting dish

Cover your baking sheet with wax paper and grease with either a heavy coat of butter or your preferred cooking spray. Unwrap the caramels and put into a microwave safe melting dish. I personally love this one. Add 2 Tablespoons of your whipping cream. Melt caramel in 30 second increments till it has a soupy like texture. This is where you have to work quickly. Once melted, add your pecans and with a large spoon, mix the two together. Once all of the pecans are coated with caramel, take two spoons to scoop out a heaping tablespoon onto your baking sheet. Work quickly because the caramel hardens fast. Once done, you can either let sit to harden or place in the freezer for 30 minutes. **I also recommend cleaning your microwave dish as quickly as possible. Once the caramel hardens completely, it can be extremely hard to clean.

Next, pour half of the bag of your baking chips into the microwave safe melting dish and melt in 30 second increments. Take the clusters out of the freezer and one by one drop them into the chocolate. With two spoons, fully cover each cluster and drop back onto the greased wax paper.

Repeat process till all of the clusters have been covered in chocolate. Have chocolate left over? Drizzle the remainder over the tops of the candies or double dip them!