These cute candy eyes are everywhere, and this year, I decided my daughter and I needed to bake up a fun Halloween treat with them. So I bought some, not knowing quite yet what we’d make. Maybe cupcakes. Or candy bark. Or cookies. Or doughnuts! Cute, right?

But while I was spending days contemplating, my daughter was growing more and more restless. Those candy eyes stared at her from the kitchen counter – literally. Finally, I broke down. Okay, okay kid! We’ll do something with the darn eyes already!

10 minutes later, we were building snack mix monsters.

The rules are as follows:

1. First, you have to make a monster.
2. Then you eat the monster.
3. Repeat!

It’s highly fun for kids and adults alike, honestly. And trust me – we’ve been playing with this Halloween snack mix every day for the past week, kid’s request. She loves the stuff.

Especially the M&Ms and the candy eyeballs. My little sweet-toothed gal seems to build monsters that have quite a few of both of those. Conveniently.

What I usually do is divvy out a small cup or bowlful of snack mix at a time to encourage her to use – and eat – all of the ingredients in the trail mix – the good stuff too, not just the sweets.

Another option, if you would like to be more health-conscious, is to leave out the candy entirely. There’s plenty of ghoulish goodness you can make with sunflower seeds (teeth!), pepitas (excellent noses!), almonds (for everything!), cashews, dried fruits, healthier cereals … really, you can put whatever you want into the mix, and you and the kids can still have lots of fun with it. (Though if you’re making it for a classroom, be sure and follow any allergy policies and swap out the nuts and/or seeds as needed. It’s a completely flexible situation!)

I see you!

I think this snack mix would be perfect for a kid’s Halloween party, or even just a fun playdate snack/activity. I plan to bring a revised version for preschool snack later this month – no nuts or candy for that bunch, but it should still be just as fun. 2018 update: I’ve brought versions of this to two classroom parties since publishing this post, and it’s been a huge hit every time!

Free printable

Here’s a free printable flag for your make-a-monster trail mix! Just download, print it out, cut it out, and use some double-stick tape to adhere it to the top of a bamboo skewer. Be sure to trim off the sharp pointy end (best be safe!) Then just stick it right in to your bowl of trail mix.

Download “Make a Monster – Eat Him Up” printable (PDF)

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Make-a-Monster Halloween Snack Mix

Holy beastly goodness! Googly eyes, cereal ears, raisin noses, pretzel heads ...  they'll love creating creatures with this ghoulishly silly snack and activity rolled into one.

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Author Kare

Ingredients

• 1 .88 ounce package candy eyeballs
• 2 cups mini pretzels
• 1 cup corn puff cereal
• 1 cup Os cereal
• 3/4 cup M&Ms
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup pepitas
• 1/2 cup raisins
• Anything else you want!

Instructions

• Pour all ingredients into a large bowl and toss with your clean hands or a large wooden spoon. Done! I like to serve it in individual cups.
• Stores for at least a couple of weeks in a zipper bag or an airtight container.

Notes

Gluten-Free Option

Choose gluten-free cereals. Judging by the list of ingredients on my particular candy eyeballs package, they appear to be gluten-free, but please use your own judgment!

Refined Sugar-Free Option

Omit candy eyeballs and M&Ms. Choose sugar-free or refined-sugar-free cereals.

Vegan/Dairy-Free Options

I'm not sure if store-bought candy eyeballs are vegan (sorry). To be safe - or just to have fun - perhaps try this homemade googly eyes recipe. So awesome!

Nut-free Option

Omit the almonds.

The post Make-a-Monster Halloween Snack Mix appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

That I found the energy to make either easy treat sometimes feels like a Christmas miracle in and of itself. Women who have done this pregnancy thing more than once, I salute you. I am humbled by you, admire you and practically worship you. I’d curtsy in your general direction too, but then I wouldn’t be able to get back up without help.

So! As far as easy treats go, these are insanely so. Put down a pretzel, add a  Hershey’s kiss, melt the kiss a little and then plop an M&M on top. They’re so simple you can do most of the prep sitting down. And that I did.

And they’re good, too. Sweet and salty = score.

Print

Chocolate Pretzel Candies

Sweet and salty = yum! As far as easy treats go, these are insanely so. Put down a pretzel, add a Hershey's kiss, melt the kiss a little and then plop an M&M on top.

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 7 minutes minutes

Total Time 17 minutes minutes

Servings 3 dozen

Author Kare

Ingredients

• 36 waffle-shaped pretzels
• 36 Hershey's hugs unwrapped
• 36 Red and/or green M&Ms
• or
• 36 circular peanut butter sandwich pretzels
• 36 Hershey's milk chocolate kisses unwrapped
• 36 Red and/or green M&Ms
• Sea salt optional

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Lay a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
• Lay the pretzels on the cookie sheet and top with a kiss.
• Bake for 4 - 7 minutes, until the kiss or hug is soft but still retains its shape. One way to test is to poke it with a spoon; another is to pull them out at 4 minutes and try to top with an M&M; if it's still hard in the middle, give it another minute or two.
• Pull from the oven and top immediately and quickly with M&Ms. If you're using the peanut butter sandwich pretzels and notice they don't have much salt, sprinkle the kiss with a little sea salt if you want.
• Allow to harden - this will take a couple of hours, or you can transfer them to the refrigerator to speed up the process.

The post Chocolate Pretzel Candies appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.