Now that I’ve tried these Gluten-Free Chocolate-Tahini Brownies from Bon Appetit Magazine, I’m not sure I will be able to eat brownies any other way.. ever again. (Except the odd bag of Two-Bites but that goes without saying). I can see why these brownies are…
Dust off Your Library Card Before I get started on today’s chocolate zucchini cake recipe review, I’m going to let you in on a little secret (that really isn’t a secret at all). You can, and should, borrow cookbooks from the library. It is the…
Happy Halloween weekend! I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share a yummy treat with you all, so I made a trip to the Bulk Barn to see what I could find. After a lot of browsing up and down every single aisle, as one does at the Bulk Barn, I came up with Halloween Caramel Pretzel Bites.
Anyhow, several years ago, I came across a treat on Pinterest with three ingredients: Hershey’s Hugs, pretzels and Smarties. Salty and sweet, how could this be bad? I made a batch for Ian, and honestly, these were the greatest thing either of us had ever tasted. Is that a bold statement? Yes, but I am sticking with it.
As I strolled through the Bulk Barn I had two specific things in mind; 1) those sweet and salty’s and 2) what candy really stood out to me as something you eat at Halloween – sort of like Mini Eggs at Easter. It came to me quite easily once I saw the big bin – those individually wrapped, square caramels! I remember I would only ever get five or six when I went trick or treating and they were my mom’s favourite – so I always gave them to her along with my Twizzlers.
I picked up some pretzels, no easy feat because I wasn’t sure if I wanted classic twists or waffle shape. After what seemed like a lifetime, I chose waffle. Next came the caramels – I counted about 20 in my bag. It’s easy to just scoop a bunch, or you can count – depends on how many you want/need. My favourite part was the Smarties. They are so fun at holiday time because you can always get holiday colours. So today, I used brown and orange Smarties for the Halloween Caramel Pretzel Bites.
Don’t get me started on the M&M’s vs Smarties debate. Smarties always win. They are 100% better. I do realize, however, that there are some places you can’t get Smarties, so in this case, by all means buy M&M’s.
The most time consuming part of the Halloween Caramel Pretzel Bites is unwrapping the caramels. You’ll have these ready to go in no time at all if you have a helper! Definitely keep an eye on your caramel while it’s in the oven since oven temps vary. Once they start to melt down, they are soft enough to add the chocolate and be cooled down. Another quick tip is to make sure you use parchment paper. I tried my first batch with wax paper and made big smoke. Not only that, the caramel was hard to peel off the wax, but came off the parchment very easily.
I recommend making these after you’ve had a proper meal. I didn’t and I ended up snacking a lot and now I feel a bit like garbage. Happy garbage, but garbage nonetheless. Speaking of proper meals, be sure to check out the Fancy Napkins review of a crockpot jambalaya. Perfect for Halloween so you’re not trying to cook in between trick or treaters.
If you’ve got a party to go to or some friends coming over this weekend, or maybe you want to bring a little something in to the office on Tuesday, give these a whirl and let me know what you think
Happy cooking!
