Thursday, February 6, 2014

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!

**I linked up to pin it thursday, all things thursday, full plate thursday, create it thursday, whats cooking wednesday, fluster buster, atozebra, tutorial tuesday, titus 2 tuesday, the scoop, nifty thrifty tuesday, homecoming, make it pretty monday, metamorphosis monday, give me the goods, sunday showcase party, much ado about monday, frugal crafty home, marvelous mess, craftomaniac, amaze me mondays, serenity now, weekend potluck, creativity unleashed, Friday favorites

15 comments:

  1. Yum! Everything is better with chocolate. Pretzels are amazing on their own but these look yummy! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yummy! I love salty sweet treats like this! Thanks for linking up! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yum! My hubby is going to love these! Thanks for sharing at the Happiness Is Homemade Link Party! Pinning to the party board and can't wait to see what happiness posts you share next week! Have a terrific week!
    Cathy
    APeekIntoMyParadise.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is such a great idea! I saw it on the Made From Pinterest link up! My husband will love these.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, these look yummy! What is not to like!
    Thanks for sharing,
    Bev

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yum! The peanut butter in the middle sounds delicious!!!! Can't go wrong with PB & chocolate.

    ReplyDelete
  7. These look fantastic, and this is something my 3 daughters (7, 6, & 3) would be able to help out with. Thanks for sharing!

    I'm visiting from the Cornerstone Confessions Titus 2 Tuesday link-up :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh girl you have a winner here! Stopping by as co-host of Homemade link Party.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow I never thought of this! Great idea.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow! What a great idea! You always have the best treats!

    Thanks so much for sharing on Turn It Up Tuesday! We love having you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. these look so good. Thanks for linking up at Tell Me About It Tuesday. We hope you hop over and share with us again next week.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a nice and easy recipe. Thank you for sharing it on our Four Seasons Blog Hop.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a great snack, these look like a lot of fun! Thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and enjoy your weekend!
    Miz Helen

    ReplyDelete
  14. Such an easy, yet cute idea! And I love the little tag. Thanks for linking to the In and Out of the Kitchen Link Party. Hope to see you next week.

    ReplyDelete