Monday, February 14, 2011

Pretzel, Peanut Butter, and Chocolate Candies

This looked a sure-fire idea when I saw it in the January issue of Living magazine. There’s no way a mix of salty pretzels, creamy, fresh peanut butter, and rich, melted chocolate could go wrong. The one-page article was about fresh hard pretzels sold at farmers’ markets. I’d never seen pretzels at our local markets, but I definitely would have bought them if I had. I checked with my friend Kristi, from Austin Farm to Table, who visited several farmers’ markets in different parts of the country last year, and she had only seen pretzels at a market in New York. I’m curious if anyone else gets to buy locally made pretzels at farmers’ markets, or if it’s just the lucky people of New York? Well, regardless of where you get the pretzels, and I found some very good ones at the grocery store, these candies are still going to be outstanding. They’re simple to make and highly addictive.

So, I bought some big, crunchy pretzels and proceeded to smash them which just seemed wrong even though it was necessary here. The crushed pretzel bits were combined with creamy, natural peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, and a little room-temperature butter. All of that was stirred together, and then one inch balls were formed and set on a tray. The tray was placed in the freezer for 30 minutes to let the peanut butter become firm. Then, it was chocolate dipping time. I used milk chocolate, but you could use whatever you prefer. I like El Rey milk chocolate which has a slightly higher cacao percentage than others. After dipping each candy piece and before the chocolate completely set, I sprinkled sea salt on top.

I’ve been craving peanut butter lately anyway, but still, these candies were especially delicious. The little chunks of pretzel encased in mounds of peanut butter inside a chocolate coating were snacking bliss. I should probably conduct some experiments with almond, cashew, and pecan butter just to determine if any one of those is better than peanut butter. And, if I locate any locally made hard pretzels, I’ll try those too.



32 comments:

  1. Oh man! You hit all of my favorite food groups on this one- sugar, salt, and fat! These look delish. Bet they didn't last long.

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  2. Those look sooooo good! My mouth is watering!What a delicious combination! Happy Valentine's Day!

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  3. Reading your post, I can almost taste how delicious these little morsels would taste. THey sound heavenly.
    Happy valentines day!
    *kisses* HH

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  4. lovely little candies for Valentine's day. Pretty pictures!

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  5. These look delicious, and I love that you topped them with sea salt! Salty sweet is one of my most favorite combinations.

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  6. OMG, those are for me! What an awesome combination. *drool*

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  7. OMG, I could eat them all at once. Happy Valentine's.

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  8. Wow! Those look like the perfect valentine's treat. Except here I am wanting to keep them for myself. Let my valentine find his own chocolate!

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  9. I love chocolate and peanut butter and I really love chocolate covered pretzels - this recipe looks like a keeper!

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  10. Oh my gosh.... These look amazing. These are immediately going on the 'gotta-make-em-NOW' list.

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  11. People are not big on peanut butter here in Mexico, which is a shame, so I've been craving it too lately. I think I need to get some at Costco and make these candies.

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  12. Lisa, what a nice combination...crunchy pretzel, peanut butter and chocolate :-)

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  13. Best snack ever. These candies are perfect for feeding each other on the special occasion.Very romantic! Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day.

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  14. Yum! Love pretzel but can't really find it here in Singapore :P

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  15. I love this recipe :) peanut butter and chcolate.. great combination and your candies in pictures look really amazing :)

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  16. Mmm, these look fantastic! I am going to have to try this one.

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  17. love the peanut butter chocolaty goodness!

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  18. These look like dangerous treats. that combination of sweet salty chocolate just can't be beat.

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  19. Holy cow, those look awesome! I am catering a gallery opening in early March and was thinking I wanted to make some small treat. Perfect!

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  20. Such a great sweet-salty combination in these yummy candies!

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  21. Lisa :) You had me at peanut & chocolate ;)

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  22. What irresistible little treats Lisa! All of my favorites rolled into one!

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  23. I've never seen fresh pretzels at the farmer's market, Lisa, but we do have them in the food court at our mall.
    These treats look super delicious!

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  24. these are entirely too tantalizing! Bookmarking them.. i will get sick off eating an entire batch and will come back to report! :) :)

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  25. first of all, smashing pretzels is cathartic. secondly, eating chocolate and peanut butter together with pretzels is blissful. well done!

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  26. That's dangerous. I would devour them all. Love the smashing. And the coating. Sigh. Just beautiful!

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  27. I love salty and sweet treats, so these are right up my alley - yum!

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  28. We make a similar "cookie" for Christmas, but I use Rice Krispies, creamy pb, and confectioners sugar, then it all gets dipped in chocolate. Super yummy. I like the idea of pretzels too. I love pretzels dipped in pb and chocolate!

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  29. I'm in love with your German chocolate cake, and I'd love it for dessert after those amazing mussels and matchstick potatoes, but I'm sorry, anything peanut butter and chocolate, especially with salted pretzels, is coming first for me. Another bookmark from your amazing blog. I have to make these soon!!

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  30. OK, I can only take quick peeks and then I have to look away before I become fully obsessed. This is like my favorite combo ever. It reminds me of one of my favorite ice cream flavors, Chubby Hubby, oh my!

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  31. I make a very similar peanut butter ball but adding pretzels? OMG - that looks amazing!!! I am going to have to try this the next time I make peanut butter balls, they sound SO good!

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