So I am totally new to all of this, I've always loved to bake but recently it's all I want to do, I've been lurking here and haven't had the guts to post any of my cake pictures yet...but I was hoping you guys might be willing to help me with a recipe...

I am trying to reverse engineer a cookie that a coffee shop I worked in during college used to sell in south Louisiana. I know it came from a local bakery that is still in business but I am now living in another state so I am having to go by memory. It was called a turtle cookie but it was basically a sandie topped with a swirl of chocolate.

The sandie part I've got but the chocolate is what I need help with. It wasn't a really soft chocolate like an icing but it wasn't hard either... it was almost like caramel but not quite... I know this is a very vague description but I'm really not sure how to describe it but I am hoping someone will pop up and say "I know exactly what you are talking about"

I would appreciate any input you guys can give me!

Thanks!

I've heard of the turtle cookie but I don't have a clue. Just thought I'd give you a bump

I don't have a clue, wish I could help. but I'll give you a bump to keep this at the top of the list.

Maybe this is softer than what you want, but I'm thinking of the filling that's in Chocolate Revel Bars if you 've ever had those. It's a 12 oz. bag of semi sweet chocolate chips, 1 T. butter, a can of sweetened condensed milk, pinch of salt and 1 tsp. of vanilla melted together. So it's chocolate, but tastes kind of caramel-y because of the sweetened condensed milk. Hope you find what you are looking for!

I may try that just to see if its close to what I am looking for it may just take a couple of trys to get something close but I was hoping someone might know what I am talking about lol thanks!

Maybe it was ganache? Ganache, if you've never had it, is what the inside of traditional chocolate truffles is. It is super easy to make. It's just a 2:1 ratio of chocolate to heavy cream. Heat the cream and chocolate together in the top of a double boiler/heat-proof bowl set over pot of simmering water until melted, stirring occasionally. Or you can heat the cream to just under a boil (about 200 deg) and then pour over the chocolate and wait 5 minutes, then stir to combine.

forgive me, as I said I am very new to attempting more than basic baking but I thought ganache was always very thin (I've used it to pour over cheesecakes) but can it be made thicker? Or maybe I can wait until it starts to cool and then use it to pipe? You know that very well maybe what it is.

The ratio above is for thicker ganache. It's the ratio I use for truffles and for filling cakes. If you let it cool, it will thicken up a lot.

I wonder if this is it? It's an old recipe from the 50's.

http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Turtle_Cookies

You know what, I think that is it! I think she just put her own spin on it, like I said the cookie was pretty much a sandie but she didn't do the pecans on the outside they were mixed into the batter and she piped a swirl of chocolate on top instead of just icing it but I found a picture of this recipe and it looks like it I'm going to try it, thanks!

http://food.yahoo.com/recipes/pillsbury-bakeoff/10079/snappy-turtle-cookies