The Candy Factory!!!

Every Christmas I turn my kitchen into a candy factory with my sisters and mom. We always make chocolate and caramel covered pretzels. It is so easy to do, and so much fun! And may I add, delicious! By the time we are done, I am full because I cant stop testing out everything we dip! We get all of our supplies at Orson Gygi to do this project. They have this great block of caramel and these big bags of chocolate disk/chips. I love these things and they make great gifts, so I thought I would share how we do it:

You start with the caramel: cut off a good sized chunk into a microwave safe bowl and add a spalsh of water. Then melt it in one minute increments until the caramel is nice and smooth...almost a bit runny. Then stick the pretzel rod in the bowl and with a spoon or spatula, pull the caramel up the pretzel, leaving enough room at the end to hold onto when you eat it.
Let them dry and harden completely on parchment paper. Depending on how warm it is in the house, we will sometimes stick them outside on a cookie sheet to cool off faster.

Next comes the chocolate. Pour about a cup or so into another microwave safe bowl and add a small spoonful of regular Crisco to it. Then microwave in one minute increments, stirring throughout. Take the caramel pretzel and do the same thing, stick it in the bowl and pull the chocolate up the sides and completely cover the caramel. For our oreo, butterfinger, candy cane, cinnamon sugar, etc. toppings, we add those on right after we dip the chocolate so the toppings stick. But if you want just a regular stick then let it dry, and you can add a drizzle of chocolate of another color to add a nice touch. We also like to dip cinnamon bears as well. Then, we get those cute, decorated celophane bags and fill em up with deliciousness. ENJOY!