Twas the night before Thanksgiving and Mama was tired.
I’d been cooking off and on for several days, preparing for our big feast. We’d just arrived home after our Wednesday night devotional time with our church family. I was ready to do one final round of dishes and call it a night. Malachi headed to the sink to wash his hands saying, “Now can we finally make my special treats for tomorrow?”
Ah yes, we still needed to make Malachi’s treats. He’d been waiting so patiently. After all, our big box of baking chocolates had come in the mail weeks ago and Mom still hadn’t done anything with it. Imagine the torture everyone had gone through, staring at all the incredible bags of chocolates and not being allowed to do anything with them. (I know, you’re all shocked that I would actually have chocolates in my house and not eat them for weeks. What can I say? I’ve been busy.)
Olive Nation, my favorite source for Vanilla Beans, had sent us a big variety of their baking chocolate disks. I’ve never worked with such high quality chocolate before. Each variety is super wonderful! We simply melted about a cup of disks with a tablespoon of butter on the stovetop, then worked quickly to dip pretzels. The melted chocolate was super smooth and easy to work with.
Malachi and I had so much fun together making this simple treat. It didn’t take long at all, and the final results were yummy and fun. Malachi was so excited about his treats that he got up bright and early with me on Thanksgiving morning so he could arrange them on a tray to put on the dessert table. They ended up being a perfect treat a few hours after our meal while everyone was playing games.
We thought they’d be fancier (and easier) to just dip half of each pretzel.
Malachi and I made three varieties of chocolate dipped pretzels: White Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, and Blond Chocolate. I was excited that making these treats didn’t even make a dent in my chocolate supply – a little goes a long way! I think these will be fun to make again, then bag up to deliver to friends at Christmas. I’m also thinking about making some truffles for gifts.
I was excited to get an email yesterday stating that Olive Nation baking supplies (including chocolates!) are 20% off through December 6. Use the code HOLBAKA at check-out for the discount.
Wow, I love this time of year – and all the great food involved!
Some of the links in the post are my referral links.
Joy says
Okay, we’re not big fans of white chocolate around here – doesn’t really taste like chocolate to me, but what in the world is “blond chocolate”? My kids LOVE chocolate covered pretzels (usually purchased from the health food store, but rarely because they’re SO expensive). The ones from the grocery contain so many yucky ingredients (trans fats, gmo soy lecithin, etc.) It would be nice to be able to make them homemade with “safer” chocolate. Thanks for the idea!
Laura says
The blond chocolate kinda tastes like butterscotch to us. It’s tasty!
Rebecca says
Are those round pretzels? I’ve never seen them before!
Laura says
Yes, I found them at a regular grocery store. The round ones only seem to appear at holiday time.:)
Beth says
Do you have a specific brand of pretzels you recommend? We quit eating pretzels because of the ingredients in common pretzels. I got a bag recently with organic soy but really shouldn’t give any soy to my youngest.
Thanks!
Laura says
I’ve about given up trying to find a healthy kind. I rarely buy them anyway, so this time, I just got a regular bag from the store. Newmann’s Own has a variety that I have tried before that is pretty good.
S. Davis says
Laura may not be able to post names due to her blog/business, but maybe it is okay for one of us who reads? The store where I found the round pretzels bagged, as well as “Christmas shaped” pretzels in a large tub, was Aldi.
Laura says
So glad you shared this! It’s totally fine for you to share a name of a business. It’s fine for me actually – I just didn’t bother with specifics because the stores in my town are locally owned and if I said “I got them at Grand Central” nobody would know what I was talking about. :) So glad to know these can be found at Aldi for those of you who have one closeby!
S. Davis says
If I cannot post the name, maybe I can post that it begins with an “A”.
Laura says
:)
Julieo says
I’d love to hear how the truffles turn out; could you share the recipe with us, pretty please?
Laura says
Here are our two favorite truffle recipes: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/special-valentines-day-treats-peanut-butter-truffles-and-chocolate-caramel-truffles
Lisa Herman says
At what heat (low, medium) do you melt the disks and butter at? I’m trying really hard not to use the microwave anymore and would like to do something like this on the stove. I’m a great cook, but I know chocolate burns, etc, so I would love your advice.
Been reading forever, just don’t post much. Thanks for such a great blog :)
Laura says
I melted them in a small saucepan at medium heat – stirring constantly. It only took a few mintues for the chocolate/butter to melt. :)
Lisa Herman says
Thanks so much!
Celina says
Those pretzels look wonderful! Did the chocolate that you used harden fine? Especially the white chocolate? I had a lot of problems with the white chocolate that I had used when I was attempting to make snowballs. Have been praying for an answer and this might just be it ; )
Laura says
Yes, all the chocolate varieties hardened perfectly. :)