Red, White and Blue Pretzels

I made red, white and blue pretzel snacks for the fireworks shows tonight. The salty and sweet combination is a perfect treat after a barbecue.

Ingredients:

bag of pretzel rods

bag of white chocolate tabs

bag of red chocolate tabs

bag of blue chocolate tabs

white sprinkles 

pretzel bags

red and blue ribbon

parchment paper

Directions:

Lay the pretzel rods out on parchment paper. Remove the broken pieces.

Melt the whole bag of white chocolate tabs and put the melted chocolate into a tall glass.

Twist and turn the pretzel rod around the glass and lay it on the parchment paper to set.

Melt about 3/4 of the bag of blue chocolate. Dip the top end into the blue melted chocolate. Add the white sprinkles while the blue chocolate is still wet. Wait for the blue chocolate to set.

Melt a small handful of the red tabs and but the melted tabs into a zipper top bag. Twist the red melted chocolate onto one end and snip a small hole with scissors. Make some stripes.

Once every pretzel is completely dry they can be packaged into some pretzel bags and tied with ribbon.

Have a safe and wonderful 4th of July! Happy birthday America!

Simple Valentine Treats

I used the vases I made from the tin cans to hold brownies, pretzels and heart shaped lollipops.

I dipped some pretzel rods in pink melted chocolate and used Valentine themed sprinkles to decorate them.  Once they are dry they can be packaged into pretzel bags and tied with ribbon.

I also made some Valentine lollipops made out of mini candy canes.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Lay the mini candy canes out into heart shapes leaving room to add lollipop sticks on parchment paper. Bake for 3 minutes.Perhaps your oven or candy cane brand might take a minute longer.

Once the hearts come out of the oven - pinch a lollipop stick into the bottom of the heart. Be careful the candy cane is hot and sticky. Once the heart lollipop is hard - remove it from the parchment paper and place in a small plastic bag and tie with a ribbon.

Then I added little bags of brownies (the brownie pictures turned out awful) but we all know what brownies look like, pretzels and lollipops to the Valentine teases.

I hope you have a romantic Valentine's Day!

Pretzel Footballs - Perfect for the Superbowl

In our house it's football smootball. We only watch the Superbowl. We are a baseball and basketball family. My husband and son also like auto racing and I watch tennis. We just don't have the time or inclination to watch football.

So once a year I post a little football idea (right before the Superbowl).

I made these footballs by using brown lunch bags.

For this project you will need:

Pretzels

Brown lunch bags

White embroidery thread

Brown marker

Scissors

Large needle

Freehand draw a football - don't draw on the bottom area of the bag.

Cut out the football - this will come out in two layers. Set the bottom layer aside and stitch your top layer lace design.

I used these football shaped pretzels to stuff the brown paper bag footballs. I bought these at Cost Plus World Market.

Aren't these football pretzels perfect to serve during the Superbowl or a Tailgate party?

Now neatly sew the top and bottom pieces together. Be careful when sewing on paper - it can easily rip  or tear.

Once the football is almost completely sewn start adding the football pretzels and complete sewing all the way around.

These would be cute snacks for any football party. You could write your favorite team on the football. These would also be a wonderful party favor.

I hope your favorite team wins!

Valentine Pretzels - Two Different Ways

Today i made some Valentine Pretzels. Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. And today I started getting out some of my Valentine decorations. Fun!

For this project you will need:

Pretzel's

White, pink and red chocolate tabs

Valentine themed sprinkles

Small plastic bags

Red or pink ribbon

These were the pretzels that I used.

Lay the pretzels in a single layer on a piece of parchment paper.

Melt some white chocolate and put it in a large zipper top bag. Twist the chocolate to the end and snipe off a small piece of the pointy end and drizzle over the pretzels.

Do the same thing with some pink chocolate.

Repeat the process with some red chocolate. Wait for everything to harden. Then cut off the excess around the edges with a sharp knife. Then put one pretzel in a plastic bag and tie with a coordinating ribbon.

Another way to make the pretzels is to pipe pink chocolate on top of the pretzel and sprinkle liberally with Valentine themed sprinkles.

Let these pretzels dry completely before packaging.

Wouldn't these be cute neighbor, classroom or sports team treats? They would also make cute party favors.

I will try to finish my Valentine decorating this week! If I can just stop making Valentine treats! Now I must quit blogging and go clean up my sprinkle mess.

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

I found this idea on Pinterest and found the recipe on the Life's too Short to Skip Dessert blog - check out her blog if you have a minute. She has a lot of great dessert ideas! This recipe was so easy and you only need four simple ingredients!

8 ounce pretzel twists (approximately 1/2 of a standard sized bag)
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Optional:

Cellophane bags
Ribbon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. I took out the broken pieces - but you don't have to do this step!  I am just such a type "A" personality. Then place your pretzel twists in a roasting pan or casserole type dish.

In a medium bowl mix oil, sugar and cinnamon. Pour the sugar mixture over the pretzels and stir so that all the pretzels are coated.  Bake for 30 minutes - stirring every 10 minutes.

Let the pretzel's cool and serve them in a bowl or put them in cellophane bags and tie with ribbon.

I put the cellophane bags in a bowl on my kitchen island so the kids could grab for the pool or beach snacks. These were so good - I have already made them twice!

I try to keep my kitchen counters clear! But as you can see this really never works out! This is a great summer snack to bring to a BBQ. Make two batches because they will go fast!

Are your kitchen counters clear of clutter?

Mardi Gras Pretzels

We are having our sixth grade Bible study class on Tuesday, February 21st. That is Fat Tuesday the day before Ash Wednesday which is the official start of Lent. So I made some Mardi Gras pretzels!

I dipped the pretzels in white chocolate and sprinkled them with green, purple and yellow sprinkles.

I put the pretzels in cellophane bags and tied them with green ribbon. I think the kids will really like these Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras treats!

I will be doing some Random Acts of Kindness projects for Lent and I will share a few of my ideas in the upcoming weeks.

White Chocolate Covered Oreo's with Crushed Candy Canes

I dipped regular Oero's into white chocolate and sprinkled them with crushed candy canes. Yum!

Okay -  after I dipped and sprinkled all of the Oero's - I still had a lot of melted white chocolate. So i decided to dip some pretzel rods.

I just dipped the top half of the pretzel in the white chocolate.

I packed the pretzels in pretzel bags and tied them with red ribbon.

Note: You can buy pre-crushed candy canes or make your own by putting unwrapped candy canes in a ziplock bag and crushing them with a heavy object!

Springtime Chocolate Covered Pretzels and Oreos

I had left over melted yellow chocolate from making my Chick Pops.  What to do? I made some Oero's and pretzel's.

Always lay your chocolate dipped items on parchment paper and wait for them to completely dry before packaging! I love how the rainbow sprinkles look with the yellow chocolate!

I packaged the pretzel sticks into little bags to use as party favors for Lisa's lunch and lunch box treats for my kids.

I think these came out really cute! I used a thicker pretzel stick.

They are called Old Fashioned Dipping Sticks - and because they are much thicker - seven or eight sticks work perfectly in the treat bag. I think I bought these pretzel sticks at Ralph's.

I decided to use the Oero's for after school snacks. Christian loves cookies and milk for his after school snack! And when his friends come over - they love also love a chocolate covered Oero!

Christmas Chocolate Covered Pretzel's

Today in the pouring rain I was in my kitchen creating treats. I made some chocolate covered Christmas pretzels.

After I dipped the pretzels in chocolate I sprinkled them with Christmas tree sprinkles.

Then I dipped some more pretzels in chocolate and sprinkled them with crushed candy canes.

Once they were dry, I packaged them in a pretzel bag and tied them with a gingham ribbon.

This is a cute neighbor, coach, teacher gift. It would also be nice taped onto a wrapped gift.