Two weeks ago my mom came over so we could make a few treats to pass out to our friends/neighbors/teachers. On the last day of summer vacation, my mom and I took the kids to Disneyland. There is a hidden little candy store in the very back past the Splash Mountain exit. I usually buy the marshmallows covered in caramel, chocolate and nuts. They are so decadent! My mom and I were looking at the pretzel rods and we decided we could make those too. A simple salty sweet treat. There are so many goodies you could put on top but we kept it simple for our first try with red icing, peanuts and mini chocolate chips. Happy Holidays!

Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods
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One Bag of Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (each bag yielded enough for 15 rods)
Tablespoon of Shortening (this helps make the chocolate silky and easier to dip)
Chopped Candy Toppings (have these prepped and ready to go before-hand)
Pretzel Rods

Prepare a cookie sheet or two with covered wax paper.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate and shortening for 60 seconds. Remove and stir, and then warm in microwave for 15 second increments until it is smooth.

Start dipping the pretzels right away. We used a spoon to bring the chocolate up to where we wanted and it dripped down smoothly. Set rods on the cookie sheet.

Dip about 5-10 pretzels and then start placing the toppings on. You will have to do this by hand because if you try to roll or sprinkle them on it really won’t work and will end up with a sticky candy-glob mess (You have a good 5-7 minute window where the chocolate will still be soft enough to press the toppings in).

If the melted chocolate in the bowl has started to harden, just give it 15 more seconds to get it back to it’s nice melty-state.

Repeat with the rest of the toppings.

Place tray in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes until chocolate has hardened.

Place them back into the freezer to harden and then wrap, eat, enjoy!

Adapted from: The Baker Chick