Candy Coated/Dipped Pretzel Treats!

Nailed It!

I got some inspiration from Pinterest (of course) for dipped pretzels:

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And decided to make my own last night.  I did things a little differently than they did for the picture above.  I bought vanilla flavored white almond bark (Plymouth Pantry brand from Walmart) and some sprinkles from the Target $1 Spot.

Of course I didn't take any pictures of actually making them... but here's what I did:

I took three squares of the almond bark and melted in a tall mug.  The one pictured below isn't mine, but it's the exact one I have (good old Google): 

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I was going to use a tall Mason jar but I was worried about putting it in the microwave.  I suppose you could melt the almond bark in a double boiler the old fashioned way, but this was so easy and a lot less clean up.  Anyway, I put the three squares of bark in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir (or really just move the blocks around a little bit) then back in for 30 more seconds.  It should be melted after that, but if not, I would do like 20 seconds at a time after that. 

Then I leaned the cup over so that the coating pooled on the side, making it possible to coat the pretzel almost all the way.  Otherwise, you would only be coating the end of the pretzel.  Roll it around a little bit, then let the excess drip off.  The directions from Pinterest said to use wax paper but I didn't have any, so I used aluminum foil.  Works just as good, I think.  Put the coated pretzel directly on the foil and sprinkle with whatever you want.  I let Emily help with this part so some of them are a little bit more "decorated" than others...

Let the coating harden -- I don't remember how long it took, but I kept picking them up and it wasn't hard yet so don't do that.  Probably about 15-20 minutes or more depending on how thick you made the coating.  

I don't remember how many pretzels I dipped with the three blocks of bark (I'm so good at tutorials, right?!) but I ended up melting three more squares and I think the result was about twenty coated pretzels in all. 

You can decorate them with anything -- sprinkles, M&Ms, nuts, coconut, whatever.  I just kept them simple (and cheap). 

(My laughable attempt at an artistic shot...)

I found some bags made specifically for dipped pretzel treats (Wilton brand - got them at Walmart but couldn't find them online - most craft/party stores will have them).  The bags I bought came with little silver foil twist ties that I did use, but I might go back and put some ribbon on them.  The only thing I didn't really like about the bags is that there isn't much bag left at the top once you put the pretzels in so there isn't really all that much room for tying ribbon like I pictured doing.  I think you're only supposed to put one in each bag, but I just didn't like the way they looked, so I put two.  You really couldn't fit three in there -- but I think two is perfect anyway.

After I did these I thought about other ways to package them and thought about just folding over the top and securing with a cute (maybe printable?) sticker.  I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to try different things.  I think this is going to be my go-to treat now.  I'm envisioning red and pink -- heart shaped?!! -- sprinkles for Valentine's Day pretzels... red, white and blue sprinkles for the Fourth of July.  The possibilities are ENDLESS.


So I plan on giving a couple of these as gifts -- I taste tested them and sort of want to give them all to myself for Christmas...

What kind of treats are you making to give as gifts??