If you're looking for a festive, albeit a little bit weird, dessert for your next Thanksgiving holiday check out these Turkey leg Rice Krispie treats. These cute and fun shaped treats are equally delicious as well.
What are turkey leg rice krispie treats?
Turkey leg Rice Krispie treats are a combination of cocoa pebbles, butter, marshmallows which are then shaped into the shape of a turkey leg with a pretzel rod added for the bone. These treats are easy to make despite their elaborate look and can be put together in around 20 minutes.
These are perfect for the centerpiece of a dessert table Thanksgiving or christmas. They can also be great to let your kids make as a food craft in the kitchen.
Variations
So these work perfectly fine the way that they're detailed below, but there are a few other ideas you can use if you want to mix it up. Here are a few thoughts:
- Use Cocoa Krispies: instead of using Cocoa pebbles try out cocoa Krispies which are similar shape and color and will look pretty much the same when you're finished.
- Use Brown food coloring: you can use regular Rice Krispies but add some brown food coloring to get the same brown color. You just won't have the chocolate flavor in your treats.
- Keep them original: the turkey leg will also look good with just plain original Rice Krispies as they are a beige color themselves.
- Use white candy melts: instead of using white chocolate to coat your pretzel rod, you can use white candy melts instead. This will lend to a similar look but the coating will be a little harder and glossier.
How to Make these treats
These treats are pretty simple to make. You whip up a regular batch cocoa pebble treats , do a little shaping and add a pretzel. You do have to use a little finesse to get your pretzel rod properly coated but it's not too difficult.
Supplies
- spatula
- large stock pot or Microwave Safe Bowl
- Measuring Cup
- 9 x 13 baking pan - optional
Ingredients
- 6 Cups Cocoa Pebbles Cereal
- 16 oz of Jet Puff Marshmallows
- 4 Tbs Salted Butter
- (optional) non-stick canola oil spray
- White Chocolate
- Pretzel Rods
- Mini Marshmallows
Instructions
Step One
Get together your pretzel rods, white chocolate, marshmallows, cocoa krispies, butter, measuring cups, spatula, microwave safe bowl or pot.
Step Two
the first thing you need to do is melt your butter and melt your marshmallows and mix them together. This can be done either on the stove top or in the microwave.
if you choose to do this in the microwave it will take only a few seconds. The stove top takes upwards of 10 minutes, but does allow you better control over the heat applied to your marshmallows.
Melting on the stove top:
- Start by measuring and adding four tablespoons of butter to your pot.
- Turn your heat on low and start to heat your butter.
- As your butter melts, stir it once in awhile.
- When your butter has almost fully melted, go ahead and measure and add 16 oz of marshmallows to the pot with it.
- Keep your heat on low as your marshmallows start to melt.
- Make sure that you stir your marshmallow is frequently while melting.
- Once your marshmallows have almost fully melted go ahead and remove them from the heat. However, continue to stir them well until they have finished melting.
Melting in the microwave:
- Measure and add 16 oz of marshmallows and 4 tablespoons of butter into a microwave safe bowl.
- Pop your bowl full of marshmallows and butter into your microwave and heat them for 30 to 60 seconds.
- Once your time is up, go ahead and remove them from the microwave and stir them well.
- Place them back into the microwave and heat for 30 seconds.
- Once the 30 seconds is up, stir them all again.
- Continue heating for 30 seconds and stirring in between 30 second intervals until your marshmallows are melted.
Step Three
Measure 6 cups of cocoa pebbles. Begin to slowly add the cereal into your marshmallow mixture while stirring it in.
Continue adding cereal while folding it into the marshmallows until you have added all of your cereal and it has a consistent coating throughout.
Step Four
Now, we're going to let our treat mixture cool slightly before we start shaping our turkey legs. Set it aside for around 15 minutes. Usually we allow treats to cool for around 30 before cutting them, however, we want it to still be a little sticky when we shape them so that the cereal does not get crunched.
Step Five
While your treat mixture is cooling, take a cup of white chocolate chips and melt them either in the microwave or on the stovetop. Use low heat if using the stove. And use 30 - 45 second heating, stirring in between if using the microwave.
Step Six
Snap pretzel rods in half and roll them in melted white chocolate. Place two mini marshmallows one end of each rod and dip those again into the chocolate. Lay each rod on wax paper and place in freezer to harden.
Step Seven
Go ahead and take about ¾ - 1 cup of the mixture. Use your hands to shape the mixture into the shape of a turkey leg. You'll want to do this gently and not compact too much or your treats will be hard.
Step Eight
Grab your pretzel rods and stick one in the end of each shaped turkey leg.
Pro Tips
- Cool things well: to make the treat mixture easy to work with make sure it is well cooled, if it's still hot the marshmallows will be really sticky and fall apart instead of sticking and holding shape. Also, the white chocolate should be well cooled and hardened on the pretzel rods before sticking them into the turkey leg shapes.
- Don't overheat: overheated marshmallows will become hard and stiff due to crystallization of sugar. This will cause the treat mixture to be more hard and less easy to work with. So, as you melt the marshmallows be sure to use just enough heat to melt them and then remove the heat.
- Work Quickly: make sure not to work with shaping the treat mixture too long, the heat from your hands can make it become sticky after too long. Also, with the melted white chocolate, you need to make sure to get your pretzels dipped quickly before it cools and hardens.
- Don't crush too hard: when shaping your turkey legs, while you need to apply some pressure to make sure that the treats hold their shape, try not to crush the cereal or the treats will be hard.
Turkey Leg Rice Krispie Treats
Equipment
- Spatula
- large stock pot
- Large mixing bowl
- measuring cups
Ingredients
- 16 oz Marshmallows
- 4 tbs Salted Butter
- 6 cups Cocoa Pebbles Cereal
- Pretzel Rods
- 1 cup White Chocolate Chips
- Mini Marshmallows
Instructions
- Gather all of your supplies and ingredients.
- Take 1 cup of white chocolate chips and melt them. You can melt on the stove on medium low or in 30 - 45 second intervals in the microwave. Make ure to stir well while melting.
- Snap pretzel rods in half and roll them in the melted white chocolate.
- Put two mini marshmallows on the end of each pretzel rod and dip those into the white chocolate. Lay the rods on wax paper and put into the freezer to harden.
- Now, melt your butter and marshmallows together. You can do this in the microwave (detailed below) or on the stovetop (detailed in the post above).
- Toss 4 tbs of butter into a bowl with 16 oz of marshmallows and pop into the microwave for 30 - 60 seconds.
- Take the bowl out and stir everything well.
- Heat again for 30 seconds, and stir again. Keep heating and stirring until marshmallows are melted.
- Slowly add in 6 cups of cocoa pebbles to the melted marshmallows and fold them in thoroughly.
- Set treat mixture aside for around 15 minutes to partially cool.
- Once partially cool, take ¾ - 1 cup scoops and shape them to the shape of a turkey leg.
- Get pretzel rods out of freezer and stick them into the end of the treats.
Nutrition information provided is just an estimate and may vary based on specific ingredients used.
