Caution: zero fun was had in the making of the Chocolate Pretzel Spider Webs and Creepy Crawly Ice Cubes I’m sharing today to celebrate the countdown to Halloween. I repeat, ZERO FUN! Ok busted, my kids and I SO much fun making these cute and silly Halloween treats sponsored by Surf Sweets, an organically sweetened gummy candy line that’s free of high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, and the top ten allergens that’s available right at the regular grocery store. We LOVE playing with food at our house! This is the first year my oldest will be actively participating in trick or treating, which brings a whole new meaning to the word “EEK” as we think about navigating the world of TOT with a child with food allergies. In case you don’t know, he is allergic to dairy and although ingesting it thankfully doesn’t cause a life threatening reaction, projectile vomiting and hives are a great way to ruin a perfectly good Halloween (and adorable scarecrow costume!) That said, thanks to movements like the Teal Pumpkin Project and food allergy-safe product lines from companies like Surf Sweets, our family, and the dozens of families we know with children with food allergies, can breathe a little easier this October 31st.
As a newly minted 3 year old, my oldest is constantly asking to make “special projects” at home, and whipping up these allergy-friendly Halloween treats using Surf Sweets candy definitely fits the bill. They were so much fun to make and eat and I know your family will love making them in the upcoming weeks leading up to Halloween too – Hocus Pocus marathon playing in the background because OBVIOUSLY! First up are these Chocolate Pretzel Spider Webs featuring Surf Sweets’ spooky spiders and cutie fruity bears!
As I mentioned, Surf Sweets candy can be found at the regular and speciality grocery stores – they’re in the “health food” aisles of the regular grocery store – and for Halloween they offer a Trick or Treat Pack with individual sized pouches of fruity bears. Fun fact: each little pouch contains 100% of your daily vitamin C. I loved that the pouches only contain 5-6 bears which is enough to satisfy a sweet tooth and not too much for little ones.
We made both big and mini-sized spider webs on a silpat, wax paper, and parchment paper-lined half baking sheet to see which, if any, didn’t work when peeling the spider webs off once the chocolate was set. Thankfully all three options work exactly the same. To create the big Chocolate Pretzel Spider Webs, arrange 9 gluten-free pretzel sticks in a circle (I love Snyder’s GF pretzels,) and to make mini ones, which are perfect for tiny hands, snap 4 pretzel sticks in half then arrange in a circle.
Next melt 6oz white chocolate or dark chocolate chips in 30 second increments until smooth and melted, then transfer to a piping bag or ziplock bag and snip off the corner of the baggie.
Note: white chocolate is typically NOT dairy free, and the only gluten-free brand I found at the time of this writing was Nestle, so I made half the webs with white chocolate chips to show a more “classic” spider web color, and the other half with Enjoy Life dark chocolate chips which are dairy and gluten-free.
Older kids can squeeze the melted chocolate into the centers of the pretzel circles, then start making circles that get a little bigger and bigger until you reach the ends of the pretzels.
While younger kids can pop a spooky spider into the centers of the big webs and a few fruity bears onto the mini spider webs, as if they’ve been caught by the spiders (Lincoln thought this was hilarious…)
Refrigerate the Chocolate Pretzel Spider Webs until the chocolate has set then peel from the backing and dive in!
Next Lincoln and I made Creepy Crawly Ice Cubes which actually made me slightly gaggy just looking at them – PERFECT for Halloween!
For these ice cubes I used the spooky spiders and Surf Sweets’ Gummy Worms which again, have zero artificial colors or flavors, and are made in a top 10 allergen-free facility. Most importantly, they are so, so (SO) good!
You’ll need a standard-sized ice cube tray with spots for 16 ice cubes. To each ice cube add 1 spooky spider and 1 gummy worm, making sure to let the gummy worms hang over the sides a bit – totally creates an icky effect. Next fill the ice cube molds with 2 cups lemonade then freeze until solid.
EW!
Lincoln loves coconut water so I popped the ice cubes into a cup of that to keep the sugar count low, but you could add the Creepy Crawly Ice Cubes to you and/or your kids’ favorite drink before serving!
I hope you have as much fun as we did making these fun and festive, food allergy-friendly Halloween Treats, and be sure to enter the giveaway below so you can get a taste of yummy Surf Sweets candy yourself!
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