I’ve got an idea for your 4th of July recipes today. My inspiration hit me the other day when I was walking through Crate & Barrel. They had the cutest 4th of July displays. As I was walking past, I saw white chocolate covered pretzels with red, white and blue sprinkles. Of course, I thought, “How hard can that be to make myself?” I’m not paying $8 for 6 of them. I can totally make them for less and it will be easy. It didn’t really work out that way.
I think in the end the pretzels turned out darling. My girls and I have enjoyed eating them…so they are yummy. They just didn’t come out like the ones I saw at Crate & Barrel or what I had pictured in my mind.
If you want to make patriotic pretzels to snack on while watching fireworks, you will need:
- Pretzel rods
- White chocolate chips
- Red, white and blue sprinkles (affiliate link)
- Treat bags
Start by melting your chocolate.
It is best to do this with a double boiler, but if you have super low heat burner like I do, you can turn it on low and it will melt slowly and evenly like a double boiler.
While your chocolate is melting, prepare a tray or cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper. This will keep the chocolate from sticking to the tray and ruining your pretzels when you pull them off.
The best method is to pour your melted chocolate into a 2 cup measuring cup. This will allow for dipping the pretzel rods into the chocolate and allow you to get decent coverage on the pretzels.
I did not do that and dipping my pretzels into the pan seen above didn’t work out to look at all like I wanted them to look.
Since they didn’t look like I wanted to with dipping, I tried squeezing the chocolate out of a bag onto the pretzels.
This was not a good idea.
The chocolate is hot and the only way to squeeze it is to have your hands on the bag. It hurt a little bit, but for the name of yummy 4th of July recipes, I kept going. I was also fighting the chocolate cooling and clumping up in the bag. ::sigh:: The final straw for this method was when the bag popped open and the white chocolate went everywhere. Yay!
The good news about that was that the bag didn’t fully break, so I just started putting pretzel rods into the remaining white chocolate in the bag and twisting them around. I got pretty good coverage this way….and made a huge mess in the process.
Whichever method you use for covering your pretzels, you need to be fairly quick with the sprinkles if you want them to stick.
Once you have the chocolate and the sprinkles on your pretzel rods, you need to place them in the refrigerator for about 15-20 minutes until the chocolate hardens and sets up.
Last year for 4th of July, I made cute snack bags to take with us to the fireworks. Everyone really liked them. I’m going to make them again this year. I plan to put these pretzels in our snack bags this year along with some yummy popcorn. If you want to do something similar, place your white chocolate dipped pretzels into a treat bag, the kind you can put favors in for a birthday party. That way the chocolate won’t get knocked off or melt next to the other items you put in your snack bag.
Tie the bags shut with baker’s twine or ribbon and one of the cute tags I have for you at the end of this post.
I made them the size that you can use a 1.5″ circle punch to cut out. Makes it super easy!
We have eaten almost all of these pretzels because they are so yummy! I know I love the salty and sweet combination and apparently so do my kids. I will have to make more for 4th of July. Yum!
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I love the flavor of white chocolate covered pretzels, and yours are so pretty! Thanks for sharing your mishaps with us, it’s nice to know it happens to other people, too š The only other idea I thought of is to put the melted chocolate in a tall, skinny drinking glass and dip them that way, but you’d have to use a lot of chocolate and probably have a lot go to waste, so I’m not sure that’s such a good solution! -Dawn @ We Call It Junkin.com
They sure are so yummy! I think your idea of the drinking glass is a really good idea. I think if it was narrow enough there wouldn’t be the need for tons more chocolate. I used one bag. Maybe that would work? Will have to give it a try when I make these again for the 4th.
As always…you have the best ideas…and so yummy looking too!
As always…you are very sweet! Thank you for all your sweet comments… they mean a lot to me. š Have a great day!
Hi KC – I’ve done these pretzels quite a few times for different occasions and what I use is a 4 cup Pyrex glass measuring cup and melt the chocolate in the microwave carefully. If you would rather not chance melting in the microwave, you can always melt on the stove and then transfer the melted chocolate into the measuring cup, making sure to use a spatula to get every last drop š Then I put the pretzel log on the side of the cup and use a spoon to quickly bring chocolate up to the desired height on the pretzel log , turning the pretzel as I go. I have a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkles and then another one with just parchment paper, so I do a dip and swirl into the sprinkles and then carefully onto the parchment lined pan to set. When they are all done, then I put the whole batch into the freezer to really set up. Then I have to hide them or they are gone in a flash š So Yummy – and yours look so patriotic š
Oh my gosh! Thank you so much for sharing this! I really appreciate it. It sounds like an idea that you have had success with and that others can have success with as well. They are so yummy…for sure! I’ve made them in the past with regular chocolate and drizzles caramel on top. OMG…so good! For some reason I didn’t have the same issues with the regular chocolate that I had with the white chocolate, which is what surprised me about this one. Anyway, I know how I will do this next time. Thanks so much!
This looks delicious and so pretty I look forward to seeing you at My Dream Canvas.
Thanks for the freebie!!! I appreciate that you make these available to everyone and not just “fans” of social media.
You are welcome! Glad you like it. Enjoy!
I love the printables – so cute:) The pretzels sound delicious, too!
Thanks! They are super yummy! Enjoy.
I love the printables! Thanks for sharing! š
Thanks, so glad you like them! You are welcome. Enjoy!
These are fabulous! Thanks for sharing on the Monday Funday Party!
Thanks so much!
A few years ago I invested in a chocolate pot by Wilton $20 at Walmart. Now I have two one for chocolate and one for white. Best treat I ever gave myself!
These are darling. I appreciate your honesty in sharing the good, the bad and the ugly. That is the truth behind most great projects, right? Thank you for sharing on Family Joy Blog Link-Up Party. Have a great week!
Thank you! Yes, there are usually snags in projects at least once. Thanks for hosting.
These look great! Thank you for linking up to last week’s Tasty Tuesday linky. I have pinned your recipe the the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest board. I hope you’ll join us again this week!