Chocolate Covered Cactus Pretzels – Cinco De Mayo Dessert

Growing up in a town that was predominately Hispanic allowed me to celebrate Cinco De Mayo every year and what a fun holiday it is!

I have since moved away from the town I grew up in but I still celebrate the holiday with my own children. Besides the amazing food that comes along with Cinco De Mayo, we also like making fun Cinco De Mayo desserts. This one, in particular, is a lot of fun and also pretty tasty.

This dessert idea is a fun one to do with tweens and teens!

CHOCOLATE COVERED CACTUS PRETZELS

Yields: 6 cactus pretzels

INGREDIENTS:

6 pretzel rods
12 oz bag Wilton green candy melts
1/4 cup corn syrup
Dark green jimmies sprinkles
Light green jimmies sprinkles
12 Wilton candy eyes (small)
6 Wilton candy mustaches

DIRECTIONS:
1. Line a cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a microwave safe bowl, add the corn syrup and green candy melts. Microwave and stir in 30 second increments until the mixture becomes thick and slightly pliable (this took me about 4 increments).

3. Pour the melted green candy melts onto the lined cookie sheet and spread out evenly. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. The texture will turn into a taffy-like consistency.

4. Divide up your green chocolate “taffy” into 6 separate pieces. Each piece will be used to make one cactus pretzel. Set aside the lined cookie sheet for later use.

HOW TO ASSEMBLE A CACTUS PRETZEL

1. Divide your taffy piece in half. Flatten and roll out one of the half pieces and place the upper part of a pretzel rod on top of it. Roll the melted chocolate around the pretzel and over the top. Pinch and seal any openings and roll the pretzel back and forth to even the chocolate out.

2. Divide the remaining “taffy” piece in half. Roll each piece into the shape of a cactus arm and press firmly into the shaped pretzel rod. Place back on the lined cookie sheet.

3. Before the chocolate completely hardens on each cactus pretzel, sprinkle with the dark and light green jimmies sprinkles to represent the cactus spines.

4. Press 2 candy eyes into the middle of the pretzel and a candy mustache directly underneath the eyes. Allow the chocolate to completely harden (20-30 minutes).

5. ENJOY!!

TO MAKE CACTUS PRETZEL CENTERPIECES
1. Fill mini clay flowerpots ( I found at Dollar Tree 3/$1) with leftover green “taffy” at the bottom. If the chocolate has already hardened, microwave for 10 seconds to soften it back up.

2. Insert each pretzel rod into the chocolate taffy and fill the flower pot with graham cracker crumbs to look like sand.

NOTE: If you don’t need your centerpieces to be edible, you can also fill each flower pot with Playdoh to keep the cactus upright and then cover with graham cracker crumbs.