Like every other young child in Westchester, I did more community service than I was physically capable of because I was told it was the only way to get into a good college. Now, don’t get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed getting involved in the community, but it’s amazing how hard we would try to show diversity in our services, as well as “continuity” between our hobbies, extra-curricular activities, and community service. Since I taught chocolate classes, it was pretty simple to make some chocolates every holiday for food pantries around the area–check out that continuity.
Teaching how to make chocolate covered pretzels at a cooking class. I blanked out the minors to prevent any law suits, because we all know I’m loaded and totally worth suing (yeah right!). The best part about looking back at all the class pictures is that the kids are probably like 17 now, buying beer from the same gas stations that never carded me back then. Go figure.
Chocolate Pretzels, which are quite overpriced in stores, are very easy to make yourself. You can use whatever toppings you want and use candy melts if you are too lazy to temper chocolate. Plus, when there’s extra chocolate and broken pretzels, you get to treat yourself to a few 
.
Ingredients:
- 40 pretzel rods
- 2 pounds dark chocolate, tempered, or chocolate melting wafers, melted
- Assorted toppings, such as chopped nuts, sprinkles, shredded coconut, chopped toffee bits, etc.
Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Pour chocolate into 2 cup measuring cup. Dip pretzels, one at a time, into melted chocolate, coating pretzel, leaving about 1—2 inches of top of rod uncoated. Shake off excess. Place on cookie sheet. Immediately sprinkle with topping of your choice. Let sit at room temperature about 15 minutes or until coating is set. Store pretzels in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Makes 40 pretzels.
**If you prefer to not temper the chocolate, you may use chocolate melting wafers instead. The chocolate isn’t as yummy as real chocolate, but the pretzels will still be delicious. Melting wafers, also known as candy melts and confectionery coating, are a very easy to use chocolate substitute. I prefer the Merckens’ brand and it is available in many candy and craft stores.
The sprinkle ones are my favorite. The colors Duke! the colors! Alright, it was worth one last try….
