Dipped Chocolate Covered Pretzel Turkeys

Serve turkey for dessert this Thanksgiving.
Your family will happily gobble up these sweet Dipped Chocolate Pretzel Turkeys at your holiday meal. 

Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be the same without turkey, so when I was designing new pretzel crafts for this holiday, I just had to make some turkeys.

As with the Chocolate Pretzel Scarecrows I shared with you earlier this week, I decided to use modeling chocolate to create the decorations because it’s easy to make, tastes great, and is firm enough to hold it shape without getting brittle.

If you’ve not ever made modeling chocolate, you’ve got to try it. All you need is chocolate and corn syrup (or you can use honey.)

Just two ingredients blended together create a soft clay like candy that can be colored, rolled out and cut into shapes. You can find the recipe and a detailed step-by-step tutorial on my Chocolate Making Tips page.

When designing these turkey pretzels I drew inspiration from two other turkey themed edible craft projects.

The face and shape are reminiscent of the Chocolate Turkey Rice Krispie Treat Pops. Instead of creating large googly eyes out of modeling chocolate this time, I went the easy route and just used jumbo candy eyes, but now that I look at those pops, I wish I would have made the effort.

Those silly faces are just too darn cute, don’t you think?

For the tail feathers, I thought about just cutting tear drop shaped feathers out of red, yellow, and orange, then remembered how much I loved the marbleized modeling chocolate tail feathers on my Chocolate Turkey Pretzel Pops. They really add a unique look to the turkey treats.

I’ve said many times before that I love using modeling chocolate on my chocolate treats because the flavor blends together seamlessly. I highly recommend learning how to make it and have it on hand to decorate your treats. It keeps for month’s sealed in an airtight container or zip top bag. You can just pinch off some, color it, and decorate with it.

If you just don’t have the time or inclination to make your own modeling chocolate you can use any chewy red, orange, and yellow candies like salt water taffy.

Any way you decorate your turkey pretzels they will surely get gobbled up by friends and family this Thanksgiving.

Chocolate Covered Turkey Pretzels

Ingredients: (makes 20-24 turkeys)

1 – 2 bags Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzel Dipping Sticks (some will be broken, so you may need 2 bags)
18 ounces melted and tempered pure milk chocolate or melted Light Cocoa confectionery coating*
12 ounces white modeling chocolate*
yellow, orange, and red food coloring
40-48 jumbo candy eyes

*See the modeling chocolate recipe and coloring tutorial along with detailed information regarding using Candy Melts/Confectionery Coating and Pure Chocolate on my Chocolate Making Tips page. You will have extra chocolate leftover after dipping. Add some broken pretzels to it and spread it out on some parchment paper. Refrigerate until set, break, and enjoy a snack.

Supplies:

chocolate dipping fork or kitchen fork
parchment paper lined baking pans
non-stick silicone mat
fondant rolling pin (or you can dust wood rolling pin with powdered sugar)
triangle cookie cutter or knife
tear drop cookie cutter or knife
leaf plunger cutter

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Instructions:

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set one pretzel at a time in the chocolate. Remove using a dipping fork, allow excess to drip off, then set on parchment paper. Dip another pretzel and set it next to the first. Continue until you have 5 pretzels attached together.

Refrigerate for 3-4 minutes until the chocolate sets.

Color some of your white modeling chocolate orange and some red.

Roll out onto a non-stick silicone mat or lightly dust a counter top with powdered sugar and roll out on it.

Cut out orange triangles for the beaks using a 1 – 1 1/2 inch triangle cutter or knife.

Cut out red tear drop shape for the wattle. The tear drop cutter should be similar in length to your triangle.

Attach two jumbo candy eyes, a wattle then a beak using dabs of melted chocolate.

To make the tail feathers, you’ll also need to color some modeling chocolate using yellow coloring.

Roll some yellow, red, and orange modeling chocolate into logs. Press them next to each other, twist, turn, and twist again, marbleizing the colors. Don’t over mix, or you’ll just end up with orange modeling chocolate.

Roll out onto a silicone mat.

Use a leaf plunger cutter or a tear drop cutter to make the tail feathers that are about 2 1/2 inches long.

Arrange four feathers together, press down on the bottom edge where the feathers come together, flattening out the bump that is formed.

Use some chocolate to attach the tail feathers to the chocolate pretzel turkey.

The modeling chocolate will firm up as it dries so you can package these turkey pretzels in cellophane bags to give as gifts or party favors.

You can find the supplies needed to create these Chocolate Pretzel Turkeys on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)

   

   

If you’d like to have the ultimate guide to working with Candy Clay (modeling chocolate) be sure to get your printed or e-book copy of Candy Clay Creations. This 102 page book is filled with tips and tricks for making and working with candy clay along with 17 step-by-step tutorials for decorating cupcakes, cookies, and more using candy clay. It’s a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to make festively decorated treats.

If you think these decorated chocolate pretzels are fun, be sure to check out my other designs.

Chocolate Snowman Pretzel Craft • Black Crow Pretzels
Chocolate Pretzel Turkeys  • Chocolate Penguin Pretzels
White Chocolate Pretzel Olaf • Chocolate Pretzel Scarecrows

Also, check out these Fun Thanksgiving Treats. (click link to see all the Thanksgiving Recipes.)

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Turkeys

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Beth Jackson Klosterboer

Serves: 20-24

Chocolate dipped pretzels decorated with modeling chocolate to look like sweet Thanksgiving turkeys.

Ingredients

• 1 – 2 bags Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzel Dipping Sticks
• 18 ounces melted and tempered pure milk chocolate
• or melted Light Cocoa Candy Melts/confectionery coating
• 12 ounces white modeling chocolate
• yellow, orange, and red food coloring
• 40-48 jumbo candy eyes

Instructions

1. Dip one pretzel in melted and tempered chocolate.
2. Set on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
3. Dip 4 more pretzels in chocolate and set them up against each other creating a rectangle.
4. Repeat, creating 20-24.
5. Refrigerate for 3 minutes until the chocolate sets.
6. Roll out red, orange and yellow modeling chocolate.
7. Cut out 1 orange triangle beak and 1 red tear drop shaped wattle per turkey.
8. Attach two jumbo candy eyes, a break and a wattle to the chocolate pretzel using melted chocolate.
9. Roll yellow, orange and red modeling chocolate into logs.
10. Press the logs up against each other.
11. Twist, and turn, and twist again to marbleize the three colors together.
12. Roll out marbleized modeling chocolate.
13. Cut 4 leaf shaped feathers for each turkey.
14. Attach 4 feathers to the backside of each turkey using melted chocolate.

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