Pretzel Turtles

Where do I start...  These are one of the most addictively wonderful sweet treats I've ever made. They are exactly how they sound, a pretzel Turtle.  Much like the commercial chocolate treats, only with a kick of salt from the pretzel component.  You may be thinking why make these, when you can buy a box of perfectly good Turtles from the store.  I can't disagree, you can buy perfectly delicious chocolates and many other delicious goodies from the store.  However, I have something of an obsession for sweet and salty mixed together and for me, this is the differentiating component between the homemade variety and store bought Turtles.

These are so easy to make, don't require special ingredients or complicated processes, so it's not much of a hardship to make. As well, when I put them together I sit at my kitchen table pouring chocolate and placing the pretzel/caramel/pecan piece on top.  So, not only are these extremely delicious to eat, they are as equally relaxing to make.

I could go on and on about how good these are but...  A picture speaks a thousand words...  Scroll down for recipe below:

52 mini pretzels
52 chewy soft caramels
52 pecan halves
16 ounces milk chocolate melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, line two baking trays with parchment paper.  On one of the trays, spread out the pecan halves and toast for about 5 to 7 minutes until the nuts are fragrant, set the nuts aside in a dish to cool until needed later. Then space the pretzels out between the two trays and place a piece of caramel on top of each one.  Bake in the oven for 5 minutes or until the caramel has softened and is starting to slump down into the pretzel.  Remove from the oven and press one of the pecans on top of the caramel.

Next step is to melt the milk chocolate over a double boiler also knows as a bain marie.

Once chocolate is melted, use a tablespoon measure and scoop out some chocolate (like I mentioned, I do this sitting at the kitchen table) and pour the chocolate into round little patties onto the same parchment lined trays used before.  The chocolate patties should be big enough for the pretzel to sit nicely on it with a border of chocolate all around the pretzel.  Do this until you've used up all your chocolate and each caramel pretzel.  Put the trays in the fridge to allow the chocolate to firm up (can be frozen for up to 1 month)

That's it!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!