Dairy-free/Egg-free/Nut-free
You can embellish just about any dry good with chocolate and rainbow or holiday-themed sprinkles, nonpareiles, colored sugar, cupcake decorations, you name it. We recently made chocolate-covered, rainbow-sprinkled pretzel sticks for a Chinese New Year celebration, and they looked like little firecrackers! So cute. We've also covered pretzel mini twists (well, pretzels of just about every shape and size), graham cracker sticks and squares and animal crackers, and embellished them or not to suit our mood.
Ingredients
- Chocolate chips (we like the semi-sweet chips we can get at Trader Joes - if you don't have a TJs near you, read the labels to make sure the chips meet your food allergy requirements)
- Something to cover (like pretzels, crackers, etc.)
- Something to embellish with, or not
Steps
- Place a piece of waxed or parchment paper on a cookie sheet or two (depending on how much you'll be chocolate-covering). If you run into a bind, you can double the amount on one cookie sheet by using a piece of waxed/parchment paper in between each layer.
- Set out the embellishments you'll be using on flat plates covered with wax paper. We like to put a piece of waxed paper on the plate, because it helps us to get the embellishment onto the dipped piece of whatever. We use a little sling action to move the sprinkles etc. around. If you'd rather just roll the chocolate-covered item around on the plate, that works, too.
- Melt the chocolate chips using the double boiler or microwave method. The amount you choose to melt will depend on how many goodies you want to make, but keep in mind that there's a little bit of trial and error here to get the quantity right. You may end up with too much or too little melted chocolate.
- Dip your dipping choice into the chocolate.
- Dip the chocolate-dipped deliciousness into the embellishment, if you're using one.
- Set it on the waxed paper and move onto the next.
- Put the cookie sheet into the refrigerator for the chocolate to set up and harden.
- Enjoy at will.
Double boiler method
- Set yourself up with a double boiler, stirring an amount of chocolate frequently-to-constantly to ensure even melting. Be careful not to get even a droplet of water into the chocolate or it will seize up and you'll have to start over again.
Microwave method
- Pour an amount of the chocolate chips into a microwave safe container.
- Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave on reduced power for about 30 seconds. If the chips haven't melted at all, put them back in at the same power for more time, or a slightly higher power for the same time, then check them again. Stir the chips every time you open the mic because you don't want the chocolate to burn. It'll stink up your house, believe us.
- Once the chips have almost completely melted, take them out of the mic and give them a good stir. The heat from the melted chocolate will take care of the remaining chips.
Notes
- Untempered chocolate will "bloom" (turn greyish-whitish) if it sits out too long at room temperature. You can take care of this problem by tempering your chocolate (this can be a complicated process), by making it shortly before you plan to serve it, or by storing it in the refrigerator.
- Adding an embellishment will affect how sweet the snack turns out, so keep that in mind.
- Consider too the chocolate-dry good ration. We love the sweet/salty/pretzel taste, and have found that the mini-pretzels almost are too small for the amount of enrobing chocolate. Use your discretion and consider your audience.
