This morning I spent a lovely couple of hours visiting my Mom! We continued a tradition that her, my sister, and I have done for the last few years: making chocolate dipped pretzels! Unfortunately my sister is away (in Africa!) so she was unable to join us, but the tradition continues :)

It's super easy and I probably don't even have to explain, but for those that like all the details here's what we do!


What you need:
~a bag of large pretzels (we figure the ratio is one bag of chocolate to one bag of pretzels so buy accordingly)
~melting chocolate - we do both white and chocolate (found at the local Michaels store)
~small bowl for chocolates
~larger bowl for hot water
~couple of baking pans
~wax paper to cover the baking pans
~gift bags
~freezer space
~Candy Canes
~Smarties
~mini food processer (to crush candy)
~spoons




1) Clear an area to work and spread out, kitchen table is great! Prep at least 2 baking sheets with wax paper (will make for easier cleanup!)


2) Boil a kettle of water  - we use an electric kettle, but stovetop or microwave works too.

3) Melt the chocolate in small bowl according to bag instructions  - microwave on power level 50 for 1min did it for me. Might come out chunky still, but stir it and it should all melt into itself.
NOTE: Do not over-melt the chocolate or it will burn and become hard as a rock, do 10-30 sec intervals if the first min doesn't work.

4) Pour about 2 inches of hot water into larger bowl and place small bowl inside the larger bowl in the water. (This ensures the chocolate doesn't harden while dipping. Add more water, but you don't need too much.
NOTE: Be sure not to let the water get into the chocolate, bad things happen!


5) Get ready to start dipping! (We separate the broken pretzels from the whole ones to make things more efficient.)

TIP: When you dip a pretzel be sure to tap off excess chocolate so that it doesn't drip everywhere. Also when the chocolate gets low then use a spoon to cover the pretzel.

6) Be creative! We do different varieties every year. This year we tried crushed candy cane on the white chocolate and crushed smarties on the milk chocolate!


7) Once you fill a pan place it in the freezer to expedite the solidifying process. If you can't put it in the freezer you can leave it out, but it just takes a bit longer.

8) When you are done dipping and the chocolate has all hardened on them then you are ready to package them up OR eat them! I buy fun little bags so I can gift them away about 8 in a bag.












And that's it, now just enjoy...and clean up!