Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

Did your jaw drop and drool spill out of your mouth when you read the title? Because that’s what happened to me when I found this recipe. It’s absolutely genius! Peanut butter filling smushed between two salty pretzels and all of that deliciousness dipped in chocolate.  Bette Jane doesn’t like peanut butter and pretzels so she wasn’t a huge fan. Weirdo. But I know someone who is…

I sent a couple dozen of these delectable bites to Mike in a care package along with snickerdoodles, Nutella cookies, and other treats. Not the healthiest cardboard box to arrive at your doorstep, but definitely filled with love. So it’s okay, right? Right. Love in packaged forms is totally awesome. Especially when chocolate peanut butter pretzel bites are involved. Mike and his roommates  pooped their pants in amazement! (That’s a direct quote.)

P.S. Ignore the missing pretzel bite in the picture… I couldn’t resist.

How freaking cute are these? Well, it kind of looks like a 4-year old made and decorated them. Don’t judge us. They definitely take time to make. They are also very messy if it’s your first time working with chocolate (as it was for us). You’ll need patience, self-control, and a friend (Bette Jane) to help. Well, you can make these by yourself, but assistance and companionship is always a bonus.

Make them. I urge you. Put them in cute bags with bows and give them to friends and family for Christmas, send them to significant others, or eat them all yourself. I seriously thought about it.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

recipe adapted from Baked Perfection

Makes 80-100 pretzel bites

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1 stick of butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 scant cups of powdered sugar
• 1  1-lb bag of pretzels (I didn’t use the whole bag. And I would’ve used the window shaped pretzels, but I couldn’t find them.)
• about 6-7 cups of chocolate chips
• 6 tsp of shortening

Directions:

1. Cream the peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt together until creamy and smooth. Then add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time until its at the desired sweetness and consistency. You want the filling to resemble that of a Reese’s peanut butter cup.
2. Take a little bit of the peanut butter filling (maybe 1/2 a tsp) and roll into a ball and squish it between two pretzels. The filling is really sticky, so I would advise putting it into the refrigerator for an hour until it’s more solid and easier to work with. Place bites on wax paper or plastic wrap. You won’t regret it.
3. Once assembled, place in the freezer for 30-40 minutes until hardened.
4. Add 1 tsp of shortening per cup of chocolate chips. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals, mixing in between. You can use a double -boiler, too. Chocolate can be burned so be careful! For tips on how to melt chocolate see this link.
5. Dip the pretzel bites in the chocolate. You can also get fancy and make cool decorations on them. We tried.
6. Let the chocolate set for at least an hour. Enjoy the awesomeness!

-Krisla

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