Valentine Pretzel Stick Bundles

Hey all and Happy Thursday to ya! Are you Valentine's Dayed out yet?! I hope not cause I've got a cute little treat to show you today and another one planned for tomorrow! This one was inspired by my Chocolate Peanut Butter Hearts I made a couple weeks ago. I use the same peanut butter for the base and just added on things I love and came up with Valentine Pretzel Sticks!

They're so easy to make and you probably have almost everything in your kitchen. You could bring them to work next Friday to share at the office. Or bag them up and add a cute tag that says something cheesy like "I love you a bundle!!".

Get it? Like a bundle of sticks? No? Ok. My husband just informed me the phrase "I love you a bundle!" doesn't exist. Which I maturely responded back with "It's my blog, so it does now!" :)

The assembly on these little bundles was a cinch. First I laid out a few sticks.

Then added a ball of creamy peanut butter dough...

topped with more sticks...

dunked them in chocolate and added adorable sprinkles. Done!

You can eat these in one big ol' bite or break off the sticks one at a time, or any other way you can come up with. If you're a white chocolate fan (which hub is not, therefore I didn't make any since he's my Valentine :) try using that instead. There's no right or wrong way to do these really.

And swear to goodness this was the FIRST time in 4 1/2 years together my hub has walked up to a sweet I made and tried it without me saying a word. I usually have to be like "Please please please be my guinea pig!" or "Just take one bite and I won't bug you anymore about it...please!" He's not the biggest sweets guy so I was shocked that he just picked one up and shoved it in his mouth. That's how I know these are good!

Ingredients:
1 bag pretzel sticks (or squares, or twists, or whatever you got)
1 Cup peanut butter
2 tsp butter, softened
3/4 Cup brown sugar
2/3 Cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 Cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp shortening

Directions:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl mix together the peanut butter and butter until fully combined and there aren't any lumps. Add in the brown sugar, powdered sugar and vanilla. Roll the peanut butter dough into about two teaspoons size balls.

Lay out the pretzel sticks in sets of three on the baking sheet. I was able to fit 24 sets of 3 on mine.

Add the balls of peanut butter to the sticks. Top with two more pretzels and press them into the dough to make them stick together.

Microwave the chocolate chips and shortening in a small bowl. Dip the "bundles" into the melted chocolate and lay on the baking sheet. Immediately top them with sprinkles and set in the fridge or freezer to chill.

Once the chocolate has hardened, split into decorative bags and give to dear friends or gobble them all up with your Valentine. I made 24 bundles with plenty of peanut butter to spare. I'm sure I could have easily made 48 of these. If you do make 48, be sure you have enough chocolate chips. Enjoy!

Here's the baking sheets I use:

Come by tomorrow where I'll be showing off yet another (shock) Valentine's treat...only this one is doubling as a Birthday "cake" since Hub turns 33 Saturday!!

Thanks for stopping by!

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