*Holiday Pretzel Rods

RED VELVET PRETZEL RODS

Left all alone for an afternoon and evening, I decided to restore a little order to the living room, get laundry done, and see what kind of trouble I could get into in the kitchen.

My mom had given me two delicious flavors of candy melts to try during the holidays:  Pumpkin Spice and Red Velvet.  I had the presence of mind during our shopping excursion into town yesterday to have my son select a bag of pretzel rods that seemed to be intact.  He found a perfect bag; all of the rods were whole.

The only ingredients needed were things I had in my kitchen:

candy melts or chocolate, in your favorite flavor

pretzel rods

sugar sparkles for sprinkling.

This time, instead of melting my candy in a bowl or something with a deep contour that would make it difficult to maximize pretzel coverage, I decided today to try using our butter dish for melting. And it worked pretty well!

In preparation, the only thing I needed to do was cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper so I would have a place to let the rods harden, and a surface that would catch the excess sprinkles.

First, I melted the Red Velvet Candy Melts in the microwave on high for about one minute.  Most of the discs were fully melted, and it only took a few stirs to blend the candy into a smooth mixture.

Next, I dipped the rod in the melted candy, rolling it and smoothing the candy on the top 3/4 of the pretzel rods.

Then, I sprinkled the sugar over the rods to make them a little fancier.  You could use any color you wanted; I just happened to have white sprinkles on hand, and I like the way they turned out.

Colored sprinkles would be fun, too!

Place the dipped rods on parchment paper to harden.

Our local Walmart carries a variety of flavored candy wafers for candy-making.

I took advantage of the cold weather we've been having, and set the pan outside for ten minutes to let the candy harden.

These will make beautiful treats to take to our book club meeting tonight.  I'm excited to share them!

PUMPKIN SPICE PRETZEL RODS

Obviously, follow the same directions as above.  I can't choose a favorite between these two flavors; they are both that good!  The next time we're in town, I'm going to check out the other varieties.  I'm thinking I'll try Red Velvet Truffles and perhaps coat some Gingerbread Truffles with the Pumpkin Spice coating.  There are so many possibilities!

They are so festive, some clear cellophane and pretty ribbon is all that's
needed for a special holiday package.