Most Rolo Pretzel Bite recipes sandwich the candy between two pretzels. This one adds the pretzel at the very end and it’s way better.
You spread a thick layer of sprinkles across the whole pan first — enough that you can’t see the parchment — then set the Rolos on top and give them three minutes in a 300°F oven. Then, you press a pretzel down onto each softened Rolo. The caramel squishes into the sprinkles underneath, so every bite comes out with a fully coated bottom instead of a few sprinkles stuck on the side.
Three ingredients, twenty minutes, no candy thermometer and no tempering. They hold for five days at room temperature with the pretzels still crisp, which makes them the first thing I make when cookie tray season starts.
Easy holiday treat
make with kids!
Quick Look: Rolo Pretzel Bites
- ⏱️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 👩🍳 Bake Time: 3 minutes
- 🕐 Active Time: 13 minutes, plus 30 minutes to cool
- 🍫 Servings: 35 bites (7 servings of 5)
- ⚡ Calories: 228 per serving
- 🔥 Cooking Method: 300°F for 3 minutes, then press and cool
- 📅 Make Ahead: Up to 5 days at room temperature — the pretzels stay crisp
- 💡 Key Tip: Count out your pretzels before the pan goes in. You get about a minute of softness.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s a quick look at the ingredients you need to make these easy rolo pretzel bites. For a full list of ingredients and amounts please head to the full recipe.
- Sprinkles: I used a Christmas sprinkle blend for this recipe, but I have also tested it with Christmas nonpareils and it looks great both ways! You can truly use any kind of sprinkles you like.
- Rolos: the caramel chocolate combination makes a Rolo the perfect candy for this treat. If you don’t want to use Rolos you can use another chocolate candy like Hershey kisses, Hershey hugs or Dove chocolate promises.
- Pretzels: salted pretzels add the perfect crunch and salty element to this simple dessert. I like to use waffle shaped pretzels, but you can use any small pretzel twist.
If you want to make another sweet and salty treat, try these kitchen sink cookies or brown butter rice krispie treats.
How to make Rolo Pretzel bites
Step 1: Preheat oven to 300F and pour sprinkles onto a parchment lined baking pan.
Step 2: Unwrap the rolos and arrange on top of the sprinkles with a little space between each rolo.
Step 3: Bake rolos at 300F for just 3 minutes. While the candy is warm, gently press one pretzel on each rolo.
Step 4: Allow the candy to cool completely before gently picking it up out of the pan. Save any leftover sprinkles for another treat!
One batch makes 35 bites, which is the useful thing to know when you’re planning December. That’s six gift bags of five or six, or enough to cover a corner of two or three cookie trays alongside everything else.
For gifting, let them cool completely — genuinely completely, not mostly — then stack them in a cellophane bag or a small glass jar with a ribbon. They don’t need to be layered with parchment unless it’s warm in the room; the sprinkle coating keeps them from sticking to each other, which is a small advantage of making them this way.
They travel well, which not everything on a cookie tray does. No frosting to smudge, nothing to go stale, and the pretzel stays crisp for days. If you’re driving them somewhere, keep them in a single layer in a shallow container rather than a deep one, since the weight of a tall stack will crack the pretzels at the bottom.
Make them up to five days ahead. That’s the real reason these earn a place in December — most things on a cookie tray are best the day they’re made, and these aren’t.
If you are looking for other easy Christmas treats, try this oreo christmas bark and Christmas chex mix with M&Ms.
How to store Rolo pretzel bites
Room temperature, airtight, up to 5 days. The pretzels stay crisp the whole time, which is the thing people don’t expect.
Don’t refrigerate them. The fridge is the one place these go wrong — condensation forms on the chocolate when they come back out, which makes the sprinkle colors bleed and can leave the chocolate with a dull bloom. Room temperature in a sealed container is genuinely better.
To freeze, cool them completely and freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months, layered with parchment if they’re stacked more than two deep. Let them come back to room temperature before eating — straight from the freezer the caramel is hard enough to be unpleasant.
Other Easy Christmas Treats
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
Email Recipe for Later
Recipe
Rolo Pretzel Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup sprinkles (jimmies work better than nonpareils — they press in and stay put)
- 35 rolos unwrapped (I buy a 10oz bag)
- 35 pretzel snaps (waffle shape)
Instructions
- Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 300F
- Pour the sprinkles into the pan and spread into an even layer – you don’t want to be able to see any parchment paper
- Arrange the rolos on top in even rows with space between each one, about an inch — since they spread when pressed and that’s what stops them merging.
- Place the pan in the preheated oven to bake for just 3 minutes. Have the pretzels ready to go while they bake.
- While the rolos are warm from the oven, carefully and gently press a pretzel onto each rolo
- Allow to cool completely, about 30 minutes, before removing the bites from the pan. Collect leftover sprinkles to reuse!
Recipe Notes
- Have the pretzels counted out before the pan goes in the oven. The Rolos stay soft for about a minute after they come out, and once the caramel firms up the pretzel sits on top instead of pressing in.
- Make the sprinkle layer thick enough that you can’t see the parchment. The caramel needs something to press into, not scattered sprinkles to pick up.
- Press gently. You want the Rolo pushed down into the sprinkles, not flattened.
- Let them cool completely, about 30 minutes, before lifting them out. Pick them up early and the chocolate drips and takes the sprinkles with it.
- Strain and save the leftover sprinkles — there’ll be plenty left and they’re perfectly good for the next batch.
- Storage: airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, and the pretzels stay crisp. Don’t refrigerate — condensation makes the colors bleed and can leave the chocolate dull.
- Freezing: up to 3 months in an airtight container. Bring to room temperature before eating.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
If you make these for a cookie tray this year, come back and leave a star rating with a line about how they went. Ratings only count toward search results when there’s a written comment attached, and this one has a single rating despite thousands of people making them. Yours would really help.
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