Turtle Pretzel Bon Bons - Feingold Stage 1

I just made these for a bake sale. Very easy to make. I used Kraft caramels for the bake sale and Lovely caramels for my son. He loved them! The Lovely caramels melted better than the Kraft, and no artificial flavors or corn syrup! You can get big bag of Lovely caramels at Costco. Or you can order directly from Lovely online. They have free shipping. Target used to have Lovely candy but right now they stopped stocking them. :( 



I used Meijer brand (in the midwest) mini pretzels. You can use any approved mini pretzel. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods has their own brand of approved mini pretzels, or there's Annie's (not sure if those would be big enough or not. May have to cut the caramels in half.) Or there's Utz holiday shaped pretzels that you can get at Sam's Club around Christmas and Halloween. They don't need to be very big. If you are gluten free, you can use Glutino mini pretzel twists. I don't know how to make these dairy free though. 

For the chocolate, the recipe called for 10 ounces of semi sweet baking squares. I had some Ghiradelli squares left over from an ice cream I just made so I used up the rest of that, and then used Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips (big bag from Sam's Club) for the rest. You can also use Ghirardelli's semi sweet chocolate chips. 

Ingredients:

40 mini pretzels (I used Meijer brand or use Trader Joe's or 365 brand from WF)
40 caramels unwrapped (I used Lovely.)
40 whole pecan halves, toasted
10 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate (baking squares or use 1 and 1/4 cups of chocolate chips)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla (watch for corn syrup and gluten if GF)
1 TB coconut oil


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. I use If You Care unbleached parchment paper. I get it on Amazon or Whole Foods. 

Line up pretzels on the baking sheet then top with one caramel each. Place pan in the oven for 4-6 minutes or until the caramels are softened. Recipe called for 6 minutes but the Lovely caramels melted faster than the Kraft caramels. If I was only doing Lovely caramels, I would only do 4 minutes. 

Remove pan from the oven. Gently press a pecan half onto each caramel. Set aside and allow to cool. 

Then melt the chocolate, coconut oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a sauce pan on low, stirring continuously until melted. 

When the caramels have cooled, grab by the pretzel on the bottom and dip the tops in the chocolate covering the entire top portion. You could cover the entire thing too if you wanted. I just did the tops. Set pack on the lined baking sheet to cool. Sprinkle with a small pinch of Kosher sea salt if desired. Set the pan in the fridge to cool and set for about 30-60 minutes. 

Store in fridge. 

Feingold Stage One

I got this recipe from www.bakerbynature.com and adjusted it to fit the Feingold Diet. 

My first batch I only made three with the Lovely caramels (the three at the top left) to see if my son liked them first. He did! 

To learn more about how dyes, artificial flavors and other  harmful chemicals can affect your child's behavior, learning, and overall health, check out my new book, "All Natural Mom's Guide to the Feingold Diet - A Natural Approach to ADHD" available now on Amazon!