Pretzel Ladybugs and Bumblebees

Who doesn’t love ladybugs, right!? These preztel ladybugs and bumblees are adorable! And they are so easy to make! My 4 year old and 6 year old have been eating them up like crazy! Mostly my 4 year old, really. She’s our little candy eater, and let’s just say she has been SUPER excited that these have been sitting out in the open on the counter for a day or two, ready for her to grab one or two whenever she likes. We don’t normally let the kids have access to treats all day and night, so she’s been absolutely loving this free-for-all!

I have a soft spot for chocolate covered pretzels (or candy melt covered pretzels, since I suppose it isn’t *really* chocolate). I’m not sure why, but I have SO MUCH FUN making different characters! I’ve made Pretzel Bunnies and Ducks, Pretzel Hearts, and Pretzel Pumpkins, and you better believe I’ll be making Pretzel Santa Hats this Christmas! (Is it crazy that I’m already looking forward to Christmas?! It just started to warm up here!).

There are lots of different ways that you can make these, so don’t feel like you have to follow my instructions to a tee.

And if you can find tiny candy eyes, that would be AWESOME. I checked two stores and online, and I couldn’t find eyes that were small enough. I’m pretty sure they exist, but I live in Canada and our city isn’t huge, so they just weren’t available to me. But I still made it work with icing, so don’t worry one bit if you can’t find the tiny candy eyeballs either!

Pretzel Ladybugs and Bumblebees

Here’s what you’ll need: (This list includes affiliate links. Thank you for supporting us!)

• Red and Yellow Candy Melts


• Chocolate Chips


• Brown M&M’s


• Pretzels


• Black Decorating Gel


• Tiny Candy Eyeballs (Or White and Black Icing Tubes)


• Vegetable Oil (Optional)

Like I said, if you can find tiny candy eyeballs, those would be perfect! Since I couldn’t get any, I made the eyeballs myself. Make them first so they have some time to harden while you prepare the pretzels. It takes some time before the M&M’s harden securely onto the pretzel, so it’s easier to have the eyes ready to go and not worry about the M&M moving around on the pretzel while you squeeze out the icing for the eyes.

Melt the chocolate (candy melts) in the microwave. I melted mine for 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time, until they were completely melted. If they look like they are close to being fully melted, only put them in for 15 seconds at a time, because they burn really easily. And believe me, it is CRAZY FRUSTRATING when you ruin all of your candy melts and have to run back out to the store! (I’ve been there…)

Use a spoon to gently and carefully place a glob of melted chocolate in the center of each pretzel.

If you find the melted candy melts too thick to work with, add vegetable oil, 1 tsp at a time to thin it out.

Use a spoon to spread out the chocolate inside the pretzels and get rid of any gaps or bubbles.

Let the candy melts harden inside the pretzels for about half an hour. You can speed it up by putting them in the fridge, but don’t leave them longer than 15 minutes or the chocolate will “sweat” when it comes out.

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. I found them too thick on their own, so I added a small amount of vegetable oil to thin it out.

Dip the tip of the yellow filled pretzels in the melted chocolate.

Pour the remaining melted chocolate into a zip lock bag and cut a small hole in one of the corners of the bag.

Gently squeeze out lines of chocolate across the yellow pretzels. I found that 2 or 3 lines worked the best.

Add globs of white icing for the eyes (or the tiny candy eyeballs if you have them).

And then use black icing for the eyeballs.

Let them set for about an hour or so until the chocolate is completely hardened, and you’re done the bumblebees!

After the red chocolate is hardened in the pretzels, use some of the melted chocolate in the zip lock bag to “glue” the M&M’s to the pretzels.

Then, use Wilton’s Black Decorating Gel to draw the dots on the ladybug’s back.

If you don’t have the black decorating gel, you can use some of the melted chocolate chips to draw the dots if you really want to – it just doesn’t look as nice. The gel evens itself out into a perfect round shape but the chocolate chips are more of a messy glob.

Considering I had to wing it for the eyes, I thought my pretzel ladybugs were adorable!

Here’s the easy play-by-play:

Ladybug Pretzels

1. Melt the red chocolate.


2. Fill the pretzel.


3. Add the M&M with eyes on it.


4. Add the dots.


5. Done!

Bumblebee Pretzels

1. Melt the yellow chocolate and chocolate chips.


2. Fill the pretzel.


3. Dip the tip of the pretzel in melted chocolate chips.


4. Draw lines across it.


5. Add the eyes.


6. Done!

Aren’t they adorable?!

These are perfect for a birthday party and make an adorable treat to send to a school party!

They come together in about an hour, including the time it takes for them to harden. If you plan to pack them up to take somewhere, you might want to let them harden for a bit longer. The black icing gel can definitely smudge if it’s not set.

These pretzel ladybugs and bumblebees make an adorable spring treat! They are easy to put together and make the perfect treat for a spring birthday party. Plus, they are so adorable, it’s hard not to smile!

Source : onelittleproject.com
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