Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Chocolate covered pretzels are the perfect no hassle, easy and quick kind of baking that I enjoy.  Depending on the sprinkles, they can be adapted to fit any holiday you feel like celebrating. 

To make these very delicious chocolate covered pretzels, you'll need pretzels(!), either rods or a traditional pretzel shape, almond bark and... 

Decorative sprinkles.  I used Halloween sprinkles, black bats and orange sprinkles.  Of course, these chocolate covered pretzels can fit any occasion simply by changing up the sprinkles...planning a baby shower use pink and blue sprinkles, Christmas use red and green sprinkles.

Break the almond bark up into sections and place in a microwave save bowl.  Microwave the chocolate for 1 minute, on high.  Remove chocolate and stir.  Continuing microwaving the chocolate cooking for 15 second intervals, stirring between each interval, until the chocolate is fully melted.

 

Dunk the pretzels into the melted chocolate. 
*Avoid using the broken pretzels.  The broken bits will leave pretzel crumbs in the melted chocolate.

Remove the pretzels from the chocolate with a spoon or your finger.  Set the pretzels onto parchment paper and quickly cover with sprinkles.  It's best to have an assistant to help with this part so you can continue covering the pretzels with chocolate.  You need to work quickly before the chocolate starts to harden.

My assistant was quite liberal with her sprinkling.  

One package of almond bark will be more than enough to cover an entire bag of pretzels.

Once your pretzels are chocolate and sprinkle coated, you can enjoy them yourself or you can wrap them up and share them.

After we (Grace and I) ate more than we should, we decided to wrap some up to share with Grace's teacher. 

Into a Goodwill basket, we arranged a fall colored tea towel, chocolate covered pretzels and a few gourds.

Of course, my favorite part...the black bat gift tag, signed by the sous chef herself Grace.

Chocolate covered pretzels, sprinkled with bats and love.

Edible Birds Nests

Since spring is still toying with us in the Midwest, I decided to take matters into my own hands and bring a little bit of Spring into my day by making my own bird's nests.

 In chocolate covered delicious form.

I am self admittedly not a baker, so I appreciate any recipe that calls for only 3 ingredients {chow mein noodles, Cadbury Mini Eggs and chocolate flavored almond bark}

and requires no baking {other than melting some chocolate}.

The rest of the recipe is equally as easy.  Stir in the chow mein noodles until they are coated with the chocolate.

Scoop out a spoonful of chocolate covered chow mein noodles onto wax paper and have your helper nestle a few eggs into place.

And, then, sample a few of the eggs, to give you enough energy to finish making all your nests.

Not only are these little bird's nests adorable BUT they are also delicious.

I guess while I wait for some real birds to make a nest, I'll happily pass the time enjoying these.