Chocolate covered pretzel rods are perfect treat to make at Christmas (or any other holiday!) They are sweet and salty and so much fun to make with the kids!
We love to make treats around the holidays every year. It’s a fun, holiday family tradition that allows us to spend time together as a family and make gifts to give away throughout the holidays.
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One of our favorite Christmas treats to make is chocolate covered pretzel rods!
They are simple to make and almost impossible to look bad!
How to Make Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods (for Christmas!)
What Kind of Chocolate to Use for Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods
When it comes to making chocolate covered pretzels, you have lots of options in terms of chocolate.
Chocolate Bars: Semi-sweet chocolate bars make a great chocolate coating for pretzels. Choose a good quality chocolate and choose semi-sweet over milk chocolate.
You can make it as dark as you’d like, depending on your tastes.
Chocolate Chips: This is my go-to since they are easy to find and quick to melt. Again, for chocolate covered pretzel rods choose a good quality, semi-sweet chocolate chip.
White Chocolate: You can also choose to use white chocolate chips or bars to cover your pretzels. Use a good quality so you get real cocoa butter and less questionable ingredients.
Candy Melts: I personally don’t like to use candy melts as a coating for chocolate covered pretzels. First, it’s not real chocolate.
They are full of hydrogenated oils, food dyes, and other ingredients I don’t like to feed my family.
But, if you choose to use them, candy melts come in lots of colors and dry to a nice hard finish.
Almond Bark: Similar to candy melts, Almond bark is not real chocolate and doesn’t contain any cocoa butter and does contain hydrogenated oils. But it is an option you have for covering your pretzels.
Supplies for Making Chocolate Covered Pretzels
To make your own chocolate covered pretzel rods you need:
- Large pretzel rods
- Chocolate (semi sweet and white)
- Decorations- sprinkles, sanding sugar, crushed mints, M&M minis, Crushed M&Ms, crushed nuts, tiny marshmallows, candy sprinkles, etc
You will also need a couple of foil or wax paper covered trays.
Tall, narrow jars or cups to hold your melted chocolate.
And a large table or counter to work on and space to dry all of your pretzels.
How to Melt Chocolate for Your Pretzels
Now that you have all of your supplies, it’s time to get started!
The first thing you need to do is melt you chocolate. There are 3 ways you can do this:
Melting in the Microwave:
Dump your chocolate into glass jars- I like wide mouth pints- and place in microwave for 30 seconds.
Remove and stir well. Keep heating your chocolate at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
*Note: Keep a careful eye on you chocolate, especially white chocolate, to make sure it doesn’t burn! If it does it will get hard and crunchy and won’t be usable.
Melting in a Double Boiler:
Another method of melting chocolate is to use a double boiler.
Place your jars in a pan of simmering water and heat and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
Make sure you don’t place the jars directly on the bottom of the pan or they may break. Placing a rack, canning jar ring, or even a wash cloth at the bottom of your pan can prevent cracking.
Melting in a Crock Pot:
Similar to using a double boiler, you can fill your crock pot part way with hot water and turn on to high heat.
Place your jars in the crock-pot and allow the jars to sit for about 30 minutes.
Stir and heat until the chocolate is smooth and melted.
You can keep your jars in the crock pot when not in use to keep the chocolate warm, just be sure not to get water in your melted chocolate or it will seize up!
Chocolate Covered Pretzel Decorating Ideas
Now that your chocolate is nice and melted it’s time to actually make your chocolate covered pretzels!
Line a couple of trays with aluminum foil, wax paper, or parchment paper. This reduces the mess and won’t stick to the final product.
Set out bowls or plates of decorations. Some good choices are:
- crushed nuts
- mini M&Ms
- crushed M&Ms
- colored sanding sugar
- crushed mints
- candy sprinkles
- tiny marshmallows
Start by dipping your pretzel rods into the chocolate, tipping the jar and turning the pretzel rod to make sure all sides are evenly covered.
Since I usually make these with the kids, I do the dipping and then hand off the pretzels to the kids to do the decorating. The chocolate levels in the jars can go down fast, which means tipping and manipulating the jars to get a good chocolate covering, so it’s easier for an adult to take this step.
Hold your pretzel rods upside down over the jar and shake to get some of the excess off.
Holding you pretzel in the air, decorate by sprinkling with your decorations.
You can be as plain as simply drizzling a different colored chocolate or rolling in nuts.
Or you can use multiple types of toppings together.
It’s almost impossible to ruin these chocolate covered pretzel rods. They look great no matter how you decorate them!
Keep dipping and decorating until you have used all of your chocolate.
Set each finished chocolate covered pretzel rod on lined trays to dry. Leave them undisturbed until the chocolate has completely hardened.
How to Store Your Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Once your chocolate covered pretzel rods are completely dry, it’s time to store them.
If left out on the counter for too long they will get stale- and that just doesn’t taste good!
Store your chocolate pretzels in an air tight container, at room temperature.
Refrigerating can cause condensation and the pretzels can get soggy.
Your chocolate covered pretzels should last at least 2 weeks in an air tight container.
Wrapping Ideas to Gift Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods
We love to make a big batch of chocolate covered pretzels to give away as gifts at Christmas time.
They make beautiful gifts for teachers, classmates, coaches, or family members.
I like to put my pretzel rods, chocolate side down, in a pint sized mason jar. Then wrap the jar in clear cellophane and tie with a ribbon,
Another option is to use cellophane bags, either large ones that fit 5-10 pretzels each or wrap them individually in smaller bags.
If you want to give a large batch of chocolate covered pretzel rods as a gift, layering them in a gift box with parchment can be a great option.
Since it’s hard to get an air tight seal when gift wrapping, I suggest storing them in a large container and wrapping them up immediately before gifting so they don’t get stale.
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Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods
Chocolate covered pretzel rods dipped and decorated for a festive treat or gift
Ingredients
- Large pretzel rods
- Chocolate (semi sweet and white)
- Decorations- sprinkles, sanding sugar, crushed mints, M&M minis, Crushed M&Ms, crushed nuts, tiny marshmallows, candy sprinkles, etc
Instructions
- Melt your chocolate in a microwave or double boiler until it is completely melted and smooth
- Dip the pretzel rods into the chocolate, twisting to cover all sides. Cover about 3/4 of the rod in chocolate.
- Shake off the excess chocolate.
- Roll your chocolate covered pretzel rod in decorations or sprinkle them on top, turning slowly to decorate all sides.
- Set the pretzels on a parchment covered tray until the chocolate hardens and sets.
- Store in an air tight container or give as gifts