Chocolate Covered Caramel Pretzel Rods

Items needed:

• Pretzel Rods
• Peter’s Caramel (melted)
• Milk Chocolate (melted)
• White Chocolate (melted)

How to melt Peter’s Caramel in the oven:

• Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F.
• Place the entire 5 lb. loaf into a french oven or a large stock pot.
• Once the oven has heated, place the french oven or stock pot loaded with the caramel inside for 60-90 minutes.
• Check the caramel at 45 minutes, (because some ovens are hotter than others), and then again at 60.
• When the caramel has completely melted, remove the french oven or the stock pot from the oven.
• Place the melted caramel in the pot onto the stove top. You can drip right out of the pot!

Instructions:

1. Dip the pretzel rods into the melted caramel and place on parchment paper to set for a couple of minutes. 
2. Dip into the the melted chocolate, which ever you want as your base.  Let cool
3. Drizzle the accent chocolate over the rods let dry completely and enjoy!

Tempering Chocolate

Work with 1-2 lbs of chocolate at a time.  Less than that can be hard to get the right temperatures. 

 Note: talked with Becky Day and her and her mother uses a chocolate melting dipping pot to melt and keep their chocolate warm.  They place some chocolate into a separate bowl and dip about 10 chocolates then add more warm chocolate from the chocolate melting pot  and do another 10.  She said you want to have smooth motions drop the fondant center in pick up with two fingers and then place on wax paper and use finger to mark the top as to the flavor of your chocolates.  They buy their chocolate from Orson Gygi in a big block, Peter's Chocolate comes in a big red bag.    

Orson Gygi has a great Chocolate 101 on their blog:
http://blog.gygi.com/blog/2019/11/14/chocolate-101/

There are three different types of chocolates you can use.  Depending on what you are making will depend on the type of chocolate to use.

Baking chips are best to use for anything you are baking (ex. cookies, bread).

Highest quality and best chocolate is couverture chocolate.  This is the chocolate you want to use for dipping chocolates. 

 

Tempering Instructions from Orson Gygi:

1. When tempering Gygi recommends to use the microwave.  In a plastic or silicone bowl so it doesn’t get to hot. Also you will want a spatula and thermometer. 
2. Start with warming up 2/3rds your chocolate 1 minute in the microwave, stir, then  microwave for 30 seconds at a time stirring in each time and checking temperature until you reach the heat to temperature. See chart. 
3. Then add in the last 1/3rd or seed chocolate a bit at a time and stir to melt to get the chocolate to its use to temperature.  
4. Test your chocolate to make sure it is tempered correctly.  Take a small piece of parchment paper and dip it into your bowl of chocolate scrapping off the extra chocolate then lay on another piece of parchment paper.  
1. If it is tempered correctly it will set up within 3-5 minutes, it will have a nice sheen to it, it won’t melt immediately under pressure of your finger tip and it will have a nice snap when you bend it. 
2. If it isn’t tempered correctly you can start again by slowly heating you chocolate up to the heat to temp and adding some seed chocolate to bring the temp back down to the use at temp.  
5. If you need to warm you chocolate back up scrape all chocolate back into the bowl and heat it up no more than 5 seconds at a time in the microwave.  Keeping the temperature of the chocolate under the use at temperature. 
6. If it goes above the use at temperature then you will need to start the tempering process over again.  
7. Dipping chocolate works best in a cool area less then 70 degrees, best between 65-70 degrees.

Compound chocolate is much easier to use, but not as high of quality.

How to best store chocolate:

Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients:

·       10 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (see note)

·       1/3 cup milk

·       1/3 cup heavy cream

·       1 teaspoon vanilla extract (see note for other variations)

·       Lots of dipping options (strawberries, bananas, small rice krispie squares, vanilla cookies, etc.)

Instructions:

1.       In a saucepan, combine the chocolate, milk and cream and heat on low, stirring often, until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Don't let it come to a boil; keep it on low heat.

2.       Once melted, stir in the vanilla extract. If needed, stir in heavy cream or milk a tablespoon at a time to adjust for a thinner consistency. Pour the mixture into a fondue pot or small slow cooker to keep warm while serving.

3.       Serve with dippers of your choice.  Recommend: marshmallows, vanilla cookies, strawberries, rice krispie treats cut in little squares, bananas.

Notes:

v  Let's talk chocolate for a second. I almost always use Ghirardelli's bittersweet chips for our chocolate fondue - sometimes Ghirardelli's semisweet chips in a pinch, but we like it darker and richer with the bittersweet. I will warn you that I tried Nestle chips once and they didn't melt well (and the taste was off) so choose your chocolate carefully. If you aren't using a higher-end chocolate chip like Ghirardelli's or Guittard, I'd use a baking bar of chocolate (usually above the chocolate chips in the store aisle) since it tends to melt better than chocolate chips.

v  If you aren't a dark chocolate fan and want it rich and chocolatey without being too dark, several times when we've made this for friends that aren't as hip on dark chocolate as we are, at the end I dropped in about 1/2 cup chopped white chocolate (or Guittard white chocolate chips which melt better than other white chocolate chip brands) to melt for a creamier, lighter version. You'll probably want to add a touch more heavy cream to thin it out a bit if doing that - just play around with amounts and consistency.

v  Also, you can vary the flavor with the extract. We usually stick with vanilla but you could try adding orange extract or peppermint for a twist on the chocolate fondue.

v  A final note - depending on the type of fondue pot you have, you may be able to make the fondue start to finish in the pot; be sure to consult manufacturing directions if doing so.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

From: Mel’s Kitchen Café - https://www.melskitchencafe.com/perfect-chocolate-fondue/

Cookie Houses

Items needed:

    ^6 Hostess Coconut Bar Cookies (per house) - 24 cookies in a pack

    *White Almond Bark (Approx 2 lbs of chocolate for 8 houses)

    Foil Wrapped Cardboard (10"x10")

    Small Candies (see below)

Cut one end of 2 cookies to a peak, from the middle of the small end to approx 3/4 inch down the side for the ends of the house.  Use the melted chocolate to 'glue' the house together and to secure it to the foil covered cardboard.  Place the peaked ends inside the side walls, so the roof won't fall in.  'Glue' the candy on the house and foil to decorate it. Can use toothpicks for snow men's arms.

Suggested candy: (enough candy to make 10-20 houses)

    *Mini Marshmallows

    *Holiday Mini M&M's - 2-3 tubes

    *Skittles - 1 bag

    ^Smarties - 1 bag

    *Gum Drops - I container 

    ^Peppermint Wheel - 1 small bag

    *Red Hots - 1 box

    *Chocolate Chips - 1 bag

    *Cake Decorating Sprinkles - 

    *Mini Candy Canes - at least 2 per person

    *Lifesavers - 1 bag

    *Pretzels (sticks) - 1 bag

    *Twizlers Pull n' Pull (Licorice rope) - 1-2 bags

    *Cinnamon bears - 1 container

    ^A chocolate Santa or snowman - 1 per person

    *Graham Crackers - 1-2 boxes

Where to buy the candy: *= Walmart, ^=Dollar Tree

Christmas Trees:

    *Candy bag w/ kisses and both size of Reese’s (makes 24 candy trees)

Hersey kisses, 2 mini/fun size Reese's, and regular Reese's.  To assemble stack mini, regular, mini the kiss on top.

Candy Train:

    *Fun Size Snickers

    *Hershey Kisses

    *Peppermint wheels, lifesavers, smarties (see above)

Use fun size snickers.  For the engine cut one snicker in half and place on top on one end of another snickers. Place a Hershey kiss on the top of the cut snicker.  For the caboose take the other half of the snicker and place it on top of a snicker in the middle.  Use Peppermint wheels, lifesavers or smarties for wheels. 

It cost roughly $50 to buy everything you need for the houses.

From: Jolene Cressall

Chocolate Popcorn

1 C. Popcorn kernels
3 Squares of almond bark chocolate (white)
1/4 cup of oil
3/4 tsp of salt

Pop the popcorn. Melt chocolate on the stop top or in the microwave. Add oil and salt. Pour over popcorn and mix.

This is to make large amounts of popcorn.

You can use a bag of popcorn and use more squares of chocolate and/or no oil to make more chocolaty.

German Chocolate Pie

Original Recipe Source, Bakers Chocolates

1 pkg. (4 0z) German Chocolate
¼ c. Butter (½ stick)
1 2/3 c. (14 ½ oz.) Evaporated Milk (more than 1 can)
1 ½ c. Sugar
3 Tbsp. Cornstarch
1/8 tsp. Salt
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 unbaked 10 inch Pie Shell (9” deep makes a very, very full pie)
1 1/3 c. Coconut
½ c. Chopped Pecan

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
1. Melt chocolate with butter over low heat; stir until blended. 

2. Remove from heat then gradually blend in milk and set aside. 

3. In a separate bowl mix sugar, cornstarch, salt then beat in eggs and vanilla. 

4. Gradually blend in chocolate mixture. 

5. Pour into pie shell. 

6. Mix coconut and pecans; sprinkle over filling. 

7. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until top is puffed. (Filling will be soft, but will set while cooling.) 

8. Cool at least 4 hours before serving. Makes 10-12 servings.

Note: If the crust begins to brown to much, put a ring of foil around the edges. Also if the coconut and pecans begin to brown to much you might need to put a sheet of foil over the entire pie.

Candy Apples

 
Items Needed:

• Granny Smith Apples
• Caramel Apple wraps
• Almond Bark Chocolate: Milk Chocolate & White
• Crushed Candy: Butterfingers, Snickers, Heath
• Other Toppings: Graham Cracker Crumbs, Oreo (any flavor), Crushed Pretzels, Mini Chocolate Chips, Crushed Shortbread Cookies

Directions:

1. Wash Apples and pull out stem.  
2. Follow the directions on the back of the Caramel Apple Wraps.  
3. Allow Caramel to cool then dip in melted chocolate.  
4. Before the chocolate hardens add crushed candy or other toppings.  
5. Allow chocolate to harden, cut and enjoy!

Simple Favorite Combinations:

Caramel + Milk Chocolate + Butterfingers + White Chocolate Drizzle
Caramel + Milk Chocolate + Snickers + White Chocolate Drizzle
Caramel + White Chocolate + Oreo + Milk Chocolate Drizzle
Caramel + White Chocolate + Cinnamon Sugar + Milk Chocolate Drizzle

*Can substitute milk chocolate for semisweet chocolate.

Fancy Flavor Combos:

Apple Pie: Caramel + White Chocolate + Graham Cracker Crumbs (mixed with a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon).

Salted Caramel Pretzel: Caramel + White or Milk Chocolate + Crushed Pretzels + Mini Chocolate Chips or Toffee Bits + Chocolate Drizzle

Twix: Caramel + Milk Chocolate + Crushed Shortbread Cookies + Chocolate Drizzles