These are the most yummy things out, to my mind. They have all the components of a hit; silky, sweet goodness (a.k.a chocolate), saltiness and crunchiness. Boom! People go nuts for them, and they only involve 2 ingredients and little patience.. oh and chocolate, they involve a lot of chocolate 🙂
My mum and I were crazy for these about 10 years ago when we lived in England still and our local Waitrose stocked them pre-made. They were our movie watching indulgence when Harribo just wasn’t floating our boat (a rare occasion I’ll admit). Since moving to Australia, I hardly ever see them in supermarket; and whilst my waistline will not doubt have been grateful for the fact, my taste buds have not.
Anywho, a couple of months ago I got invited along to a picnic and couldn’t decide what to bring that was sweet but not muffins or cupcakes, and these guys popped into my head! It was a joyous moment. In my typical fashion, I decided that one thing was not enough and that pastries and sandwiches were also necessary in my picnic arsenal, and then I left all the making to the morning of the picnic… Madness ensued and the casualty of my attempted over achieving providing were the chocolate pretzels, I totally forgot them. It was a tragic loss, to no one more than to Jack, the partner of the host of the picnic, who had allegedly allowed himself to be dragged along to said picnic just for the chance tasting the sweet, salty and crunchy goodness that are the chocolate pretzels. That he went to the effort of baking a totally decadent chocolate cake for the picnic does not in any way negate his lack of willing to be there.. nup, not a little.
Well, since this debacle I have been on the mission of amending my mistake and have finally made a batch of these bad boys to one day (when Merri, Jack’s partner, is actually at home and not working for once!) allow Jack the pleasure of having one a whole damn jar of my chocolate pretzels. Hooray!
The Recipe:
– 1 pack of baked pretzels
– 1 bar of your fave chocolate.
Utensils needed:
– 2 medium sized bowls- 1 heatproof, 1 not.
– a medium sized saucepan
– tongs, preferably silicon coated (just for ease of use)
-baking parchment
The Method:
– Empty your bag of pretzels into a bowl and pick out all the whole ones, if you’re doing this as a gift or for a party or something that is, if not, just empty them into a bowl.
– Next, to melt your chocolate, take a saucepan and pour about an inch of freshly boiled water into it and put it on to a low heat. Then get a heat proof bowl that will comfortably sit in your saucepan without touching the water and place it in the saucepan.
– Break up your block of chocky into the bowl in the saucepan. The chocolate will melt in about 5 mins, try not to stir it or disturb it too much; if you think it’s getting too hot, then just turn off the heat below the pan… and just turn it back on when you think it’s not melting the chocolate anymore.
– Whilst your chocolate is melting, take your baking parchment and tear off a piece that you reckon will fit all your pretzels on (you’re going to use this to leave your choc coated pretzels on to cool), and place it on a tray (so you can move it easily if needed). Keep an eye on your melting chocolate though!
– Once your chocolate is melted, start dipping them pretzels! Use the tongs to dunk them in the chocolate, shake off any excess, then place them on the baking parchment to cool and set. If you have space in your fridge, once you’ve finished you can place the tray in the fridge to speed up the cooling process.
– And you’re done! Just present/devour as you like 🙂
G. xxx
The Heaped Tablespoon 