Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Chocolate Covered Pretzels have always been a Christmas tradition in my husband's family. This was something he made with his mother every Christmas when he was growing up. When we were first married, Liz would send us chocolate covered pretzels with our Christmas presents. She died in 2005 and I never thought to ask her for her recipe. This is the first year since she died that Roger showed interest in making chocolate covered pretzels with our girls. So I started looking for a recipe.

You'll need:

about 12 oz of chocolate
1Tbsp shortening
pretzels
Parchment Paper

You can use chocolate chips or baking chocolate. Either works just fine. Liz always used the small pretzel twists, but we didn't buy the ingredients until Christmas Eve so they only had pretzel sticks left. We used white chocolate because they are Roger's favorite, but brown chocolate is just a good, in my opinion.

Roll out the parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Put the chocolate chips and shortening in a microwaveable bowl. Heat the chips/shortening in the microwaves until chocolate is mostly melted. Stir every 20-30 seconds. If you overheat the chocolate, it becomes thick and unworkable so watch your chocolate carefully. Take it out of the microwave while there are still unmelted chips. Stir until these chips melt.

If dipping pretzel rods, hold a rod by one end and dip it in the chocolate, leaving an inch or two uncovered. If you are dipping pretzel twists, drop the whole pretzel in the chocolate and submerge it slightly. Use a fork to pull the pretzel out of the chocolate. Shake the chocolate-dipped pretzels several times to remove excess chocolate. Place it on the parchment paper. If you are using sprinkles, sprinkle them on while the chocolate is still wet.

Put the cookie sheets of pretzels in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set the chocolate. Store in a plastic bag or plastic tub on the counter for easy snacking.

This is a really fun recipe to make with kids. I try to remember that I'm making memories as well as pretzels. (This is hard for me sometimes.) It's not too important if the pretzels aren't as pretty as what you buy at the store. As long as the kids are having fun (and sneaking licks of chocolate here and there.)