pumpkin candy pretzel treats ... and a free printable ♥

a few weeks ago i found these on pinterest

my girls and i put them together last weekend.

packaged them up to give as teacher & neighbor gifts. it was fun!

the instructions were very simple but we hit a couple of road bumps along the way ...

three things you'll need:

waffle pretzels

HUGS hershey kisses

and mellowcreme pumpkins 

(the same as candy corn just in pumpkin form :)

line your cookie sheets with parchment paper 

spreadthe waffle pretzels out on the cookie sheets 

then put an unwrapped kiss on top of each pretzel

(space the pretzels out a little bit... the pictures of ours here i'd say were a little too close together. when you press the kiss down it spreads and you don't want them to touch each other)

bake them in a 350 degree oven for about 2 minutes.

really no more than that.

here's the bumps in the road i was talking about.

we waited 20 minutes for them to cool, but the pumpkins were so heavy it really wasn't enough time ... we waited another 20. still not ready. and another 20. nope.

each time the pumpkin crushed the kiss and turned it into a puddle of chocolate all over the parchment paper (wish i took a picture of it)

so i tried another cookie sheet and started a new batch from the beginning while we waited for the others to cool.... here's the little trick i discovered that worked:

take them out of the oven, let them cool for the first 20 minutes and then pop them into the freezer, the whole sheet - everything, for maaaaaybe a minute - no more!

and that stiffened them up enough to withstand the ginormous weight of the pumpkin :)

it worked! try it and lemme know how it goes for ya.

we put our goodies in plastic punch cups

filled them up and put clear basket wrap over top 

(the kind on a roll, like wrapping paper style)

used some bakers twine, washi and tada! 

add my little label to the top and get ready to make some little (and big) people very happy.

download the free tags here!

  

i used a two inch circle punch to cut these out ... they fit perfectly on the top of the cups.

oh! and the cute clipart? it's from my bestie's etsy shop here

you can get this little birdie and a whole woodland set as an instant download!

happy fall!

and happy #eatallthethings!