Chocolate covered pretzels

I wrote an article for my Mother of Twins newsletter about cooking with kids (that phrasing still sounds all wrong to me!), so I've decided to use my blog to be a little more organized about cooking projects that have gone well with the boys. Or failed miserably. That would be fun, too. I figure it'll help me to keep all my "recipes" in one place, and maybe it'll help a few of you, too.

So here's a recipe we made a few weeks ago for chocolate covered pretzels. I use the term "recipe" loosely. I've found with three year old twins, recipes that need precise measurements are a set up for failure!

Ingredients:

Pretzels (any kind you want, just make sure they're big enough for your kids to hold part of it and dip the other part)
Chocolate chips (let's say 2/3 cup)
Sprinkles (I don't know, I just kept dumping more into their bowls as they ran out)

Directions:

Cover a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Set aside. Fill a small bowl for each child with pretzels, and another small bowl for each child with sprinkles. Set aside. Don't even think about making them share bowls, because that's just setting yourself up for fights :)

Put the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave 20 seconds at a time, stirring well after each 20 seconds, until they are melted. The chocolate will be hot, but if you take it out JUST as the chocolate has melted, it shouldn't burn your kids. At least it didn't burn mine, but as always, test it yourself before giving it to your kids.

Set the bowl of melted chocolate where each child can easily reach it. Give them their bowls of pretzels and sprinkles. Show them how to dip half of each pretzel in chocolate, then dip it in sprinkles. Set them on the waxed paper to cool and harden. Or eat them right away. Whichever.

___________

This recipe worked really well for us, and as you may imagine, was a big hit with the kids. Of course. Pretzels, chocolate, and sprinkles. Those are things I've never had trouble getting my picky boys to eat. On the messiness scale (from 1 to 10, with 10 being a complete disaster), I'd give it an 8. Chocolate got all over them (especially their faces), and sprinkles ended up all over the place. It was a pretty quick clean up, though, as the chocolate wiped off things easily and the sprinkles could just be vacuumed up.

It was a very quick recipe: quick set up, quick to make, quick to eat.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10. Unhealthy, messy, but quick, delicious, and so much fun for the boys. I'll be honest: we'll definitely make this one again, despite the fact that it's not exactly health food!


Food allergy note: nut-safe chocolate chips can be a challenge as all the major brands carry a potential nut-contamination warning. I've found two brands, though, that are safe for nut allergies: the BJ's store brand (Berkley and Jensen, I think), and the Roche Bros. store brand. Neither have a nut allergy warning on the bag, and I've given both to my son who has peanut and tree nut allergies.