The pastry pretzel came to us from Germany, in particular, its knot-like form is said to be invented in the South of Germany. The word “pretzel” itself is also of German origin, it comes from the German “Brezel”. In medieval times the cooking of pretzels was strictly regulated, but nowadays we can all make pretzels the way we like. Although a traditional pretzel is covered with salt and mainly used as a beer snack, modern cuisine offers a wide variety of different pretzels, including sweet ones. Here we are going to talk about chocolate covered pretzels which make a great dessert for almost any occasion.
Aside from being tasty, the chocolate covered pretzels look very original due to their traditional knot-like form. Normally they are made quite small, which also makes them convenient to eat: you can offer a dish of chocolate covered pretzels to your guests and everyone will get a chance to taste them (even if they have consumed a good full dinner beforehand) or you can get (or make) some pretzels for yourself, put them into a bowl and eat them while watching TV. Now, the question is: where do we get this universal dessert?
First of all, we can buy a bag or a box of chocolate covered pretzels. Due to the advantages stated above, this pastry has become quite popular, so there are a lot of companies producing and selling it. You can order some chocolate covered pretzels online, for example, at “The ultimate pretzel” or at “Nuts Online” or at “Fretzels”, or you can just look for them at your local supermarket, where, most likely, you may also find a wide variety of chocolate covered pretzels. The fact is, that besides being dressed in chocolate, the pretzels are often additionally decorated with nuts, dried fruit or colourful toppings. At this point we discover another advantage of this dessert: it is not very expensive.
But what if you don’t like ordering food online and you haven’t found the chocolate covered pretzels in your local store or those you have found are not quite the ones you wanted? Of course, there is only one solution: bake the pretzels yourself! And then you can cover them with chocolate and any dditional ingredients you like. Now we will also learn that this dessert is easy to make and can be done almost in no time. So, first of all, we will learn how to bake the pretzel which later on will be chocolate covered.
We will need:
- -0,5 cup of warm water
- -0,125 teaspoon of active dry yeast
- -2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- -0,125 teaspoon of salt
- -1 cup of bread flour
- -3 cups of regular flour
- -2 cups of warm water
- -4 tablespoons of melted butter
- -2 tablespoons of baking soda
Sprinkle yeast on water in a bowl, stir until dissolved. Add sugar and salt and stir again until dissolved. Add the flour and knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Let it rise for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, let us prepare a soda solution: 2 cups of warm water and 2 tablespoons of soda. Make sure to stir the solution often. When the dough has risen, pinch of bits and roll them in a long rope and then tie it in a knot-like shape to get a pretzel. Dip it in our soda solution and place the pretzel on a greased baking sheet. Then let it rise again for a bit and put it in the oven heated to 230 degrees Celsius (or 450 degrees Fahrenheit). Bake the pretzels until golden (about 10 minutes) and then brush them with melted butter.
Here we go, the main part of our dessert is ready! Now let us proceed from pretzels to chocolate covered pretzels! We only need to make the chocolate cover, which is not difficult at all.
Take a milk chocolate bar, break it into several small pieces and put it in a saucepan. Switch on a low heat and stir the chocolate pieces until melted. Dip each pretzel in the liquid chocolate cover and put it carefully on waxed paper (you can use baking paper) or directly on a dish. The chocolate covered pretzels are almost ready! Now, it is for you to decide: if you want to add other ingredients, like nuts or toppings, you should add them now while the chocolate cover on the pretzels is still melted. After you have sprinkled your chocolate covered pretzels (or maybe not, if you prefer them in a simpler way), put them in the refrigerator for at least an hour to make sure the chocolate is solid. That is it, our universal dessert is ready!
As we have seen, chocolate covered pretzels are easy both to buy and to make, are not expensive and go great for almost any occasion. So, you only have to decide how you like your pretzels and enjoy your time!