Pretzel Screamers

As one of my post-work projects this week, I decided to make some cute little "pretzel screamers" to share :) I saw them on Pinterest and decided to try.

Yes, I know there are a couple of eye-less pretzels and pretzels with mismatched eyes.

They're actually pretty simple to make, provided you don't scorch the chocolate when you're trying to melt it.  All you need is:

- Mini pretzels

- Chocolate chips for melting

- Food colouring (optional)

- Butter/vegetable oil/olive oil

- Reese's pieces (or some substitute for eyeballs)

- Wax paper

Step 1: melt the chocolate. 

Good thing I got more chocolate chips than I actually needed because I had to do this step twice. On my first try, I used the double boiler method (as I usually do when I'm trying to melt chocolate). 

EXCEPT, this turned out somewhat disastrously because the chocolate got way too hot, too quickly. I've never used a gas stove before I moved to BC, so I'm still trying to get used to it. Water boils so quickly on a gas stove!!! Also, I've always used dark chocolate for melting and didn't realize that milk & white chocolate gets burnt a lot quicker. So, my first batch of chocolate chips turned into a nasty, mud-like concoction that I had to say goodbye to. 

The second time around, I went the microwave route and heated up the chocolate in a bowl in short intervals (I think I did 30 seconds, 30 seconds, 15 seconds). I added in a bit of olive oil to the mix each time I took it out of the microwave, until the consistency became "coat-able". 

Step 2: coat the pretzels in chocolate.

I lined a baking sheet with wax paper and then placed the chocolate-covered pretzels on to set.

Pretty straightforward.

Step 3: create glue for the eyeballs.

Using the same microwave method of chocolate-melting, I melted the white chocolate chips.

I then used food colouring to create three different colours of eyeball glue. 

Then I scooped the colours into little plastic bags, so I could squeeze them out onto the pretzels.

I snipped off a corner so I could "pipe".
The purple-ish colour hardened almost right away for some reason, so I had to abandon it :(

Step 4: stick on the eyeballs.

I used Reese's Pieces because I conveniently had some lying around from a box of candy I recently bought from the superstore ... but anything eyeball-like works. I saw pics where people used sprinkles, smarties, m&ms, etc.

I just left some of them without eyeballs because I thought they looked kind of creepy as is.

After put all the eyeballs on, I stuck them all into the fridge to set.

Step 5: SHARE :) 

I got these adorable Frankenstein candy bags from London Drugs for 99 cents (for a pack of 10)! I put the pretzels in a separate plastic bag, so they wouldn't be touching the rest of the candy.