Chocolate Covered Pretzels

 Festive chocolate covered pretzels, at that.  =D I don't really think any one person can lay claim to the chocolate covered pretzel, so I can't attribute the inspiration for this post to any particular person/blog.  However, I did happen to see some super cute chocolate covered pretzels very recently, posted by Kim, on the blog Feed Me, Seymour.  Please swing by her blog if you haven't done so already.  You'll be happy that you did!


Every year during the month of December (and sometimes a little earlier than that) I become acutely aware of the fact that the holidays are approaching.  I mean, aside from seeing nonstop commercials and ads and whatnot, I start to feel Christmas-y.  That hasn't happened yet this year.  I obviously know that Christmas is 1 week away, but I'm still not feeling it.  Maybe it's because the weather has been pretty warm lately, or maybe it's because I've just been busy with school and have only recently been able to pull my head out of my ass.  Who knows.  Regardless, I'm not feeling the holiday spirit quite as much as I'd like.  That's where these chocolate covered pretzels come in.


Sean was out of town this weekend, so I took that as my chance to spend (probably) too much time in the kitchen.  Perhaps some baking would help put me in the holiday mood?  It did... a little.  Cranking up the holiday music and helping some friends decorate their tree helped too. =)  These chocolate covered pretzels are really easy to make, and look pretty impressive, or at least I think that they do.  You can use different colored sprinkles for different holidays, too.

You'll need:


chocolate chips/chunks (whatever kind you'd like)
pretzels
assorted sprinkles


Melt your chocolate chips in a double boiler, or, do like I did.  Place them in a glass bowl and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring frequently.  You can add a little butter or a smidge of vegetable oil to the chocolate too, if you like.  I added a little bit of vegetable oil.


Dip pretzels in chocolate, allow excess chocolate to drip off, and apply sprinkles!


It's that easy. =)  Let them cool and the chocolate set.


I would, however, make a few recommendations: 


1) Put some parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  It will provide a relatively non-stick surface on which your pretzels can dry.  


2) For the love of all things holy, apply the sprinkles to the pretzels over a baking dish.  Otherwise you're going to have a mess on your hands.  I used a 13x9 Pyrex dish.


3) If you use milk chocolate chips or chunks, put the cookie sheets in the fridge while the chocolate sets up.  Otherwise it will take a really long time to set up (or at least mine did).


I used milk chocolate and white chocolate chips.  Although I'm a bigger fan of eating milk chocolate, I thought that the white chocolate ones came out looking better.  It's easier to see the sprinkles against the white chocolate background, and white is more festive than the milk chocolate.

Here's the whole assortment =)

Pretty cute, huh?  Plus check out the adorable penguin bowl I have them sitting in!  I couldn't resist.  Whip some up for a holiday party, for friends, or just for yourself.  Enjoy!