Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels with Candy Canes and Sprinkles (Or Faking Baking)

It feels like every time I turn around I have something that I need to bring cookies to. My kids have three functions this week for which I'm required to bring stuff. You'd think that I'd be prepared, with all the baking I do but I'm not. I'm scrambling.


Then it occurred to me that I have a box of uneaten Mars Bars leftover from Halloween. If you've been around here for a while, you know how I like to melt chocolate bars with butter and make squares. It's a problem. But not today. Today it's a solution. A much-needed quick fix for yet another gathering for which I'm required to bring sweets. Here's the link for the recipe for Mars Bar Squares. After I made them, I was melting the chocolate for the topping (I decided to go rogue and use white chocolate instead of chocolate chips), I started thinking about the pretzels I have in my cupboard. Then I remembered seeing a post on Savory Sweet Life about pretzels dipped in white chocolate and then dipped in crushed candy canes. And it was down hill from there.

Instead of using my melted chocolate for it's intended purpose, (being the topping for the Mars Bar Squares), I pulled out my pretzels and started dipping. It was fun and easy and they looked so darn festive. When I ran out of pretzel twists, I pulled out the skinny rod pretzels. But I was also out of white chocolate and candy canes, so I grabbed some milk chocolate and sprinkles.  

In an effort to compensate for my now naked Mars Bar Squares, I threw some sprinkles on them too. Done.

Except now I have these delicious pretzels that look so cute and I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that they're not for me.


I know this isn't exactly 'baking'. In fact, it's not baking at all. It's totally faking. But it works - it's fast and delicious. And pretty. So there's that.


Some tips for the pretzels:


Alice at Savory Sweet Life says to dip the pretzels in the melted chocolate and then dip them directly into the crushed candy cane. This works, however, I found that the candy canes were getting soggy with chocolate. It's much easier to dip them, then lay them on your parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle the candy canes on top. This method also allows you to control how much candy cane you have on each pretzel.


I would dip 3 or 4 at a time, then sprinkle them with candy cane (or sprinkles). Any more than that and I found the chocolate would set before I sprinkled them and therefore not stick as well.


Allow to chill in the fridge for a good 20 minutes before putting them in containers or the chocolate gets messy looking. Also, put saran between the layers so they don't stick together.


And finally, a good quality chocolate always tastes better than melting chocolate chips. Then again, if that's all you have on hand, it's still better than nothing. Chocolate on pretzels is the right thing to do.