Calling all caramel lovers! You’ll love these Caramel Pretzel Turtles which focus more on the caramel than on the chocolate. Simple 4-ingredient, bite-size treats.
Happy February to all of you! February has always been one of my favorite months for several reasons.
1. It’s short. For some reason, a month with only 28 days (and an occasional extra day thrown in) makes me happy.
2. It means I’ve survived another January winter. One step closer to spring!
3. I’ve always liked Valentine’s Day. It’s not because my valentine and I do anything special ourselves. We try to celebrate the day together as a family. The kids get so excited about this month of love. They make cards and write us notes. Kinslee even surprised me by decorating the school room. We have hearts hanging everywhere above our heads!
But the best thing about Valentine’s Day?
The candy.
I’m a candy monster.
Which is why I had to share with you these Caramel Pretzel Turtles today.
There are so many recipes out there for quick and easy turtles, all of which you can’t go wrong with. I really didn’t want to use just a Rolo candy, though. You see, I love caramel. And I wanted that salty pretzel and sweet caramel to be the main taste of this turtle. So yes, there is chocolate, but the caramel takes center stage.
Making these turtles is a simple process and only takes 4 ingredients. You’ll need pretzels, chocolate kisses, caramels and pecans. (I originally used Werther’s Original Caramels for these candies, but since those first few times I’ve made them, I’m having a hard time finding them in the store. Feel free to use Kraft caramels, too!) If you use Werther’s, you’ll want to bake them for about 7 minutes to soften the caramel. If you choose Kraft, you’ll want to lower that time to about 4 minutes. Either way, watch them closely. It doesn’t take long to soften, and you don’t want your precious caramel running all over the pan.
Place a pretzel down on a pan with a caramel on it of it. Bake it at 350 for 4-7 minutes, or until the caramel gets soft. Place an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss on top of the caramel and pop it back in the oven for one minute. Don’t those kisses look so happy sitting there in the warm oven? With the sub-zero temperatures this week, I wished I could join them.
Once the Hershey Kiss is soft, you’ll remove the pan from the oven and press a pecan on top. You’re done!
These little salty & sweet bites are so poppable…you’re going to want to keep them under lock and key.
Not a bad way to start one of my favorite months.
Q: Do you like the month of February? What are your Valentine’s Day plans? I’d love to hear them!
Caramel Pretzel Turtles
Ingredients
- 35 waffle pretzels
- 35 soft caramel candies
- 35 Milk Chocolate Hershey Kisses
- 35 pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Lay the waffle pretzels (or other small shaped pretzel) down on a baking pan. Unwrap the caramels and place them on top of the pretzels.
- Place the pan into the preheated oven and bake them for 4-7 minutes. Watch the caramels carefully. Different brands of caramel will melt at different times. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately press a Hershey Kiss into the caramel. Place these back into the oven for just 1 minute.
- Take the pan back out of the oven and place a pecan on top of each of the Hershey Kisses.
- Allow the chocolate to set completely before storing in an airtight container.
Nutrition
David Ryan says
Wow. They look yummy. I want to try how to bake them.
SB says
These appear to have 4 ingredients not 3 as posted.
Pretzel
Caramel
Chocolate kiss
Pecan
Lizzy T says
You are right! Thanks for catching my mistake. I forgot all about the little pecan! Fixed it.
Sarah @ Miss CandiQuik says
Oh yummy! I bought Werther’s for the first time a couple months ago and LOVED the taste and texture much better than others. And these turtles look to die for!
Lizzy T says
Thanks so much, Sarah! I agree with you that the Werther’s have an amazing taste. I was glad I stumbled upon them! 🙂
Sandi says
Where do they sell the werthers original baking candy.
Julie Clark says
I got mine at Walmart or Meijer, but I’m not sure they sell it anymore. You can substitute Kraft soft caramels.
AnnMarie says
Wow! I love the more caramel idea! Love the simplicity too! Pinned.
Lizzy T says
Glad you’re with me, AnnMarie:) Thank you!!
Terry says
Yummy!!
Lizzy T says
They were soooo yummy, Terry! 🙂
Mary says
Wow this looks so yummy! I’ve made something similar before, pretzels Rolos and pecans, but this version looks great! You seem to make so many wonderful recipes! I’m cohosting a link up I think you’d be interested in, Delcious Dish Tuesday, it opens up at 12am EST TOMORROW. I hope to see another one of your Delcious recipes tomorrow!
Lizzy T says
Yes, I love how this one has more caramel! Thanks for stopping by, Mary. I’ll check out your site!
Kate says
These look great, and so simple! I’ve seen a couple of different ideas using caramels and pretzels like this, but I’m worried that the cooled product/leftover candies will be tough or hard to bite — like a salted caramel chocolate chip cookie I made recently; great out the the oven, but with the older cookies the caramel pieces were like hard candies. Thoughts? Ideas to avoid that? Thanks!
Lizzy T says
I’ve never tried caramel in cookies, but we’ve not had a problem with these turning hard. I think the Werther’s caramels might be slightly softer than the Kraft caramels. We actually messed up the first batch so had a whole pie of carmel covered pretzels (without the chocolate on top) that were so good…they didn’t turn hard at all! Have fun making these!
April says
i made these yesterday and they were perfect while still warm. Today, however, the caramel is hard as a rock. I used the Kraft caramels so not sure if that’s the problem but won’t be making these again.
Lizzy T says
Hmmm…not sure why this happened, April. I’ve made them several times with no problems. I’m sorry they didn’t work for you!
Maria says
Where did you buy the werthers baking caramels, I live in Dayton Ohio. The werthers company never answers my emails. So I ordered them through Amazon.
Lizzy T says
I got them at Walmart (we’re in Ohio, too). But that was over a year ago. I’m wondering if they don’t sell them anymore? I’ll have to check and then update the post. You can also use the Kraft caramels.
Maria says
Werthers finally emailed me, the caramels are no longer made. Bummer, they were good.
Lizzy T says
That is a bummer! Thanks for the update.
Rachel Kemplin says
Oh my! I made these with my children and they are so delicious! We made a huge error though….we forgot to line the baking sheet and couldn’t get the cookies off. ????????????. So funny! Thanks for the lovely, simple recipe. Next time, these we are going to nail this.
Julie Clark says
I’ve done that before, too! So glad you liked them. 🙂
Yvonne Falgout says
How long can these store and still be good/tasty? Can you freeze them?
Anonymous says
I’ve tried this recipe but used werther’s caramels. Recipe says 7 minutes for werther’s it’s more like 3
minutes or less. Like this recipe.