Broken Bone Pretzel Treats
If you’re familiar with this blog, you know I have quite the professional crush on Christine McConnell. She is an insanely talented creator of anything macabre and spooky. When I first saw her Netflix show back in 2019, I really wanted to make her peanut butter cookie bones recipe from episode 1. Well here I am, almost three years later, and I finally did it. To my credit, her show doesn’t give a clear recipe with measurements, so it took some finagling for me to figure out my own recipe based on her suggestions. Below, I’m going to share the recipe I used, and some tips and tricks for achieving these bone-ified treats. Luckily, they aren’t too difficult to make and don’t require any special equipment not typically found in a baker’s kitchen. And if you haven’t already, check out episode 1 “Snacks for Strays” of “The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell” on Netflix to see where the original idea came from.
Ingredients:
Pretzel rods
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1.5 cups creamy peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
2 packages white chocolate flavored candy coating
cocoa powder
*Note* The amount of pretzel rods and white chocolate candy coating you’ll need will vary depending on how many bones you want to make. I recommend one bag of pretzel rods and two packages of the candy coating to start.
Step 1: With an electric mixer, beat your butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar together creating a firm dough. Between your palms, roll 4 small quarter sized balls of dough. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more powdered sugar. Stick two balls of dough to both ends of your pretzel rod. You can use a dab of peanut butter like glue if the balls won’t stick
Step 2: Using your rolling pin, (or a water glass if you don’t have one) roll out a thin oval shaped piece of dough about the size of your pretzel rod. Use your fingers and gently press the dough into the pretzel, making sure to coat the whole thing. Repeat until you have your desired amount of bone skeletons and pop into the freezer for about 30 minutes.
Tip* To create smaller bones, simply adjust the size of your pretzel rod by breaking off a portion.
Step 3: Melt your candy coating according to the package instructions and transfer to a bowl or pan large enough to dip your ones. Dip bones one by one into the chocolate, making sure to cover the whole bone. Transfer bones to a pan lined with parchment paper and pop back in to the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Repeat this step at least one more time to ensure a nice thick coat of chocolate. Don’t worry if they look lumpy and imperfect.
Step 4: Using a potato peeler, begin the process of shaving off the excess candy coating and smoothing out any lumps or bumps. The colder your bones are the better, so if they begin to soften, pop back into the freezer for a bit.
Step 5: Once your bones are shaved down and smooth, begin adding detail. Using the top of your potato peeler, begin carving away the excess chocolate between the end nubs to mimic the look of a real bone. Then, create a shallow line between the nubs and slightly down the center. Using a tooth pick, poke small hones in the top of the bones to create the illusion of cavities. Then, using your cocoa powder and a food safe brush, dust a little cocoa in the crevice between the end nubs and slightly down the center to create the illusion of a shadow.
Voila! There you have it. Your very own white chocolate peanut butter pretzel bones. As you can see from the title and my pictures, I broke my bones in half to give the illusion of broken bones. I thought this looked super creepy and also made the portion size smaller. As you may notice, when using the whole pretzel rod, these thing turn out BIG. But either way, intact bones or broken ones, the effect will be very creepy.
I hope you give these bones a try and please let me know in the comments how it went. But most of all, please stay spooky ☠️