Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Bake Time: 2-5 Minutes

This baked good celebrates the incredible beetle. Beetles are among the most adaptable beings on the planet. They live in almost every environment on earth and fill a variety of roles. With over 350,000 different species, they are so diverse that a fourth of animal species in the entire world are a type of beetle! Some are pests that hurt crops and gardens while others are beneficial by ways such as getting rid of dead trees, hunting other pests, or recycling nutrients back to the ecosystem. Under every rock, plant, and tree you will find these beetles in a variety of shapes and sizes. The largest being as big as a third of a meter while the smallest being a thousandth of that size.
In this summer month of July, the nights will be speckled with the flashes of lights of lightning bugs, a type of beetle that communicates with creating light on its abdomen. You will also find ladybugs out and about, prowling leaves in search of a meal. Under a rock you may find the strawberry seed beetle, a fast moving ground beetle as I did as a child.

Beetles enhance our environment and fascinate us with there appearances and behaviors. They deserve to be celebrated, especially in delicious treat form!

The ingredients for these delicious cookies are Rolos, pretzels, and pecans. Rolos are chocolates with a caramel core which helps with sticking the pecan on top for the last step. However, if you don’t have Rolos, any form of chocolate can be used as a substitute.

Lay the pretzels out on a baking tray. You will be adding to the pretzels while they are on the tray, so be sure to leave some room between the pretzels so you can easily work with them without touching the hot tray!

Add a Rolo on top of each pretzel and preheat the oven to 250 F. Resist the temptation to begin eating the sweet and salty cookies before they go in!

Put the tray into the oven for 2-5 minutes. The Rolos should be soft and malleable and the pretzels should be unburnt.

While the Rolo is still squishy, place a pecan on the top and press it down firmly. Work quickly before the Rolo cools and be careful not to touch the hot tray! If the Rolo does cool, a minute in the oven will soften it up again.

You can break off tiny pieces of pretzel to use as antennae or mandibles.

Finally, and most importantly, enjoy your beetle-ful creation!