Easy cooking with kids: Chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks

The trick about working with kids in the kitchen is finding things that are fun to eat, but also easy enough for young children to make. These chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks fit the bill perfectly. Plus, they would make great items at a school bake sale (that was actually a suggestion I read in Family Circle magazine).

Here's what you need:

• 1 bag of pretzel rods (the giant pretzels about 10 inches long)
• 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (or whatever flavor you want)
• Various toppings, like ice cream sprinkles, mini M & M's, other flavored chips like butterscotch or peanut butter, other small candies)
• Wax paper
• Wire cooling rack (optional, but this will prevent the chocolate from having a flat side from setting on a plate)

Additional variations:

• 1 bag of wrapped caramels
• creamy peanut butter

What to do:

• Start with melting the chocolate chips. Put them all in a microwave-safe bowl and heat them for 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time, until it is smooth and easy to work with.
  
• Once the chocolate is smooth and spoonable, cover about two-thirds of a pretzel rod with chocolate. This can be done by dipping or by spreading the chocolate with a spoon or knife. Keep the chocolate even and just thick enough to cover the pretzel- too much and it will be gloppy.
  
• If you want toppings, sprinkle them on the chocolate now. Get as much coverage as you want, and use as many different toppings as you like.
  
• Place your finished pretzel rod on the wax paper (preferably on a wire cooling rack)to set. You can also put the wax paper in the fridge to help the chocolate set quicker.

Variations:

Add caramel:

• From the bag of caramels, unwrap 8-10 caramels. Put them in a saucepan with about 1 tablespoon of water. Stir constantly over medium heat until the caramel is smooth and liquid. Remove from the heat and spread on the pretzel sticks in the same manner as the chocolate.
  
• If you do not want to add chocolate, sprinkle on desired toppings at this time and lay on the wax paper to set. Put the wax paper in the freezer for about 30 minutes. If you skip this step, the caramel will stick to the wax paper and you will ruin them. Freezing them will allow you to easily remove the caramel sticks.
  
• If you want to dip your caramel covered sticks in chocolate, you must first freeze the caramel sticks- hot caramel will just glob when mixed with the chocolate. After the caramel sticks have cooled enough to easily remove from the wax paper, spread chocolate over the caramel and add toppings as desired. Return to the wax paper in the fridge to set.

Add peanut butter:

• Spread a thin layer ofcreamy peanut- if this is too thick, the chocolate will not stick easily and will fall off before it sets. Add a layer of chocolate and toppings, as desired. Set on the wax paper in the fridge to set.

Once the chocolate has completely set, they are ready to go. They should not need to be refrigerated. Put one or two sticks in a cellophane bag from the craft store and tie with a ribbon for a pretty gift of bake sale item!

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