Dipped Pretzel Rods
Pretzel rods are easy, relatively inexpensive, and universally loved by kids and adults alike. They make a great thing to customize for little holiday gifts.
Ingredients
- large pretzel rods
Dip of Choice
- melted caramels
- melted chocolate add 1-2 teaspoons shortening, coconut oil, or vegetable oil per 1 cup chocolate or white chocolate chips (don't use butter or olive oil)
- melted candy coating
Toppings of Choice
- sprinkles
- nuts
- crushed candy canes
- chocolate drizzles
Instructions
This is more of an idea than a recipe! Here are some basic steps and practical tips.
- Prepare your dip and place in a tall, narrow container.
- Dip each pretzel rod about ½ to ⅔ of the way down the pretzel, maneuvering your pretzel and container however you need to to coat, allowing excess to drip back into your container. You can also roll the pretzel rod between your hands to gently spin the excess off. Set aside to harden.
- Decorate wet layers with any toppings and allow to harden completely. Then enjoy, store in a single layer in an airtight container, or wrap in cellophane bags with ribbon or box for gifting.
Keep the layers thin. It's tempting to load these puppies up, but pretzels are pretty fragile and you still want to be able to taste the pretzel underneath with everything else.
You'll want to allow each layer to cool and harden before adding more. You can balance them on a bowl or a cooling rack during this step to allow excess to fall off instead of pooling on one side of the pretzel Just make sure whatever you choose, you you spray it with nonstick spray before laying the pretzel rods on it.
Notes
Learn From my Mistakes:
- Tasty as homemade caramel is, it’s too thick, rich, and chewy to work on pretzels. You wind up with a mouthful of stickiness that’s too hard to eat. Just buy a bag of Kraft caramels and don’t beat yourself up about it. Also, homemade caramel is too thick on the pretzels. And they kept snapping in half after the caramel hardened. It just did not work for me on so many levels.
- Cinnamon sugar, while great in theory, was too sweet sprinkled on the pretzels. Also, it wasn’t very pretty. I’ve toyed with the idea of mixing cinnamon (no sugar) in with the white chocolate before drizzling it on the pretzels.
- Walmart pretzel rods are the worst. I guarantee at least 1/2 the bag will be broken when you buy it. Rold Gold pretzels look pretty in the bag, but the snappage factor is pretty high. I actually have found that Kroger pretzels are perfect for dipping!
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