Turkey Pretzel Thanksgiving Treats (with Reese’s!)
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These Turkey Pretzel treats are simple to make and adorable too! No mixing or baking required — simply melt a little chocolate for ‘glue’ and start assembling. Make these as a classroom snack or edible decoration for your holiday table.
Turkey Pretzel Treats
I love making fun, themed treats for the holidays, especially as classroom snacks!
After making Peeps rice krispies for Easter and meringue ghosts for Halloween, I knew I had to come up with a cute Thanksgiving treat for the dessert table.
These little pretzel turkeys turned out so cute and everyone gobbled them right up… get it?
Plus, they’re a great activity to keep the kids busy while you’re trying to tackle Thanksgiving dinner!
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – Use the individually wrapped snack-size cups to make your pretzel turkeys.
- Chocolate Chips – I like to use semi-sweet, but dark or milk chocolate works too. You’ll melt them down to act as ‘glue’ when assembling your treats.
Avoid white chocolate chips as the color won’t blend in with the other candies. But chocolate or brown candy melts would work! - Mini Pretzels – These provide a sturdy base, and the loops allow you to create the tail feathers for your Reese’s turkeys.
- Reese’s Pieces – Grab a big enough box or bag because you’ll need to pick out just the orange ones! You can use the rest in this no bake cheesecake or my brownie cookies.
Or, use chocolate-covered sunflower seeds if you can find them! They usually come in orange and yellow, which is perfect for these Reese’s turkey treats. - Turkey Feathers – You’ve got a few options here! I typically use leaf sprinkles for both the snood (that’s the part that hangs over the beak) and the tail feathers so it’s one less thing to buy.
But, you can use candy corn for more impressive tail feathers if you’d like! Just cut off the white tips and attach them with melted chocolate.
Tips and Tricks to Make Perfect Pretzel Turkeys
- Don’t overdo it on the chocolate glue.
How many Reese’s turkeys you’re able to make depends entirely on how much chocolate you use to attach each piece.
Make sure to use enough to hold the pretzel turkeys together, but not so much that the chocolate is oozing out.
- Layer the sprinkles for more dimension.
I like to use 2 to 3 layers of leaves for the plume along the back, then two thinner red leaves layered on top of each other for the snood.
- Use candy eyes or pipe them yourself!
Candy eyeballs are a quick and easy solution for turkey pretzel treats, and you can use any extra to decorate monster or reindeer treats and cupcakes.
Or, pipe two dots of white frosting and add a little of the melted chocolate in the center for the pupil.
Prep Ahead
- Separate out the orange Reese’s Pieces
- Unwrap the Reese’s cups
What You’ll Need For This Recipe
- Microwave-Safe Bowl – Not only does it make melting chocolate easier, but you can use it to quickly steam vegetables too!
- Parchment Paper – Prevents your turkey pretzel treats from sticking and makes cleanup a breeze!
- Piping Bag – Gives you more control over the chocolate and is less messy too. You can also make your own by filling a plastic storage bag and snipping off the corner opposite the zippered top.
- Fall Sprinkles – You can order these from Amazon or look for a Fall Sprinkles set at the supermarket or craft store. It’ll be a large container with divided sections for different types of themed sprinkles.
Serving Suggestions
These would make the cutest little decorations to add to your table setting… and antsy kids will love a sweet treat before dinner!
Or, line them up on a tray and add them to your dessert table. Other kid-friendly and stackable treats include pumpkin snickerdoodles, caramel apple pie bombs, and haystack cookies.
How to Store Pretzel Turkey Treats
While these are perfectly fine at room temperature, you can keep pretzel turkey treats in the refrigerator if your kitchen is particularly warm.
Either way, store them in an airtight container so they don’t become stale and enjoy within a week.
Reese’s Turkey FAQ
Unless your kitchen is very warm, your Reese’s turkey treats should be ready in about 30 minutes.
You can always pop them in the fridge or freezer to help them set faster. A parchment-lined baking sheet makes this super easy!
Absolutely! Since there aren’t really exact measurements, just pieces to put together, you can assemble as many turkey pretzel treats as you’d like!
Get the kids involved and put them together assembly-line style. The only tricky part is the melted chocolate ‘glue’ — I wouldn’t melt more than 1 cup of chocolate chips at a time or it’ll harden before you can use it all.
If you’re making dozens and dozens of these treats, start with one batch of chocolate and melt more as you need it.
You can use a Rolo for the body and swap out the Reese’s Pieces for plain M&M’s instead.
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Turkey Pretzel Thanksgiving Treats (with Reese’s!)
Ingredients
- 24 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 24 Snyders Snaps pretzels
- 48 Candy eyes
- 24 orange Reese’s Pieces
- Leaf sprinkles
- Candy Corn, Optional
Instructions
- Unwrap Reese’s Cups – this helps the process to go faster and the chocolate “glue” not to harden.
- In a microwave safe bowl, heat chocolate chips in 30 second increments until chocolate is melted and smooth.
- Use a spoon to transfer the melted chocolate to a zippered bag and cut the tip off for easy use (and less mess).
- On a plate or parchment paper, start by putting some chocolate on the top of the Reese’s Cup and then attach the narrow end of the pretzel onto the Reese’s.
- Flip the Reese’s over so that the pretzel is on the bottom.
- Put three dots of chocolate for the two eyes and nose.
- Place 2 candy eyes and an orange Reese’s Pieces over the chocolate dots to secure in place.
- On one side of the Reese’s Pieces, put a red leaf sprinkle to create the wattle of the turkey.
- On the back side of the Reese’s, put some chocolate on the pretzel and attach three leaf sprinkles (any color).
- Let treats cool completely. Enjoy!
Donna’s Notes
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published November 2020, updated and republished October 2024
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Made these for my students and they loved them! Had none left!