Turtle Cookies II

This is a tasty butter cookie, rolled in nuts, filled with caramel, and coated with chocolate. I won a local baking contest with these. Everyone loves them! You can fill the cookies with caramel apple dip instead of caramel ice cream topping. Works great!

Original recipe makes 24 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 egg whites
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping
1 cup chocolate coating wafers, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in the vanilla, then the flour.
Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, roll the balls in the egg whites, then roll them in the chopped pecans. Place the cookies 1 1/2 inches apart on an unprepared cookie sheet. Using your finger, make an indention in the center of each cookie.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottom of cookies are lightly browned.
When the cookies come out of the oven fill the indentions with the caramel filling, and let cool. Pour about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of chocolate over each cookie to cover the caramel center. Let stand until chocolate is set.