Chocolate covered pretzels

'Tis the season...for baking!  There are parties to go to, parties to have, gifts to bake and things to eat.  December can be a very fattening time of year. (Sorry - no super diet goodies are being made by me but if you know of some, please share!  I'm working on the 'it's all good as long as it's in moderation' theme).

We had our first party to go to at the boy's spielgruppe last week and all the parents were making stuff.  I decided to test drive what I'm planning on making later on as a kids sized version.  It went over really well! Even with the adults - they couldn't stop eating them :-)  And really, it was quite simple to make.

What you need:

Pretzel sticks - I used the Jamadu ones from Coop as I was making them for the kids

1 block of cooking chocolate - the white is pictured but I had issues with it so switched to chocolate

Sprinkles - any sort - the smaller the better since the pretzels are so small

Wax (baking) paper to put the pretzels on to dry

Melt your chocolate. Make sure not to get any water in with it.  You can try the microwave (I never have good results so don't do it that way).  Simply put a pot of water on to boil and then put a pan over the top.  Break up your chocolate and set it in the pan.  When it starts melting, stir until smooth.  You can turn down the heat and it will stay liquid long enough for you to do your pretzels.  If it starts to harden just turn up the heat again.

The easiest thing to do is scatter some sprinkles on a piece of wax paper and then lay the chocolate coated pretzels on top of them.  While the chocolate is still hot, sprinkle more on top.  (you can see why I wanted to use the white chocolate - green sprinkles would have been easier to see).  It's not hard and if you have kids they would love to do the sprinkles.  Just keep away from the steaming chocolate :)


I layered them in a plastic container to fit them in the fridge so they would harden overnight.  Enjoy!

Grab and Go Breakfast

I used to have a breakfast routine for weekdays.  I'm all for changing it up on the weekends but used to be very happy to eat my corn flakes and milk for breakfast.  That all changed when our second son decided that he would get very cranky if I drank milk so it's been a constant struggle to figure out what to make. That and the lack of time in the morning. Everyone wants something different now.  Luckily the breakfast muffins are a big hit and quite easy to make on the weekend for the week ahead.  I've also started experimenting with adding veggies to muffins so that my oldest will get more out of them.  Hubby will eat anything. Usually he's a cereal type of guy as well, but I wanted to make something new for him, and hopefully filling.

I found this recipe on Parents.com and after reading a bunch of negative reviews, still decided to try it as I thought that it sounded like something hubby would like. I did do a bit of changing up, but here is the link.

The dried fruit with the original recipe is cranberries.  I chose to use bananas. As I didn't know if the soft bananas or the crunchy chips would be better, I used both.  Feel free to use whichever fruit (or nut) you like the best.

What you need:

A lot of this was from my Konstanz stash, but there is quite a large range of dried fruits in the shops here.  Haven't checked on the cereal yet.

1/3 cup brown sugar (when using brown sugar, always make sure it is firmly packed)
1/3 cup honey
1 3/4 - 2 cups of peanut butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 cups of bran flakes
1 package of dried fruit (I used about 1/2 of the soft dried bananas and then 1/4 of the banana chips on top).
Not pictured: chocolate morsels: because everything is better with chocolate :)

Line a baking dish with foil or wax paper to ensure ease of removal.  Clear out some space for the baking dish in your fridge.

Measure out your peanut butter.

Mix the sugar and honey into a pot and bring to a boil, stirring constantly so it doesn't burn. Remove from heat. Add the PB and cinnamon.  Mix until smooth (PB melted in).

Add the cereal.  Here is where you mix in 1/2 of your fruit (or like me, the soft dried fruit).

Put the mixture into your baking dish and if using a large dried fruit, give them a rough chop and then sprinkle over the top.  Add some chocolate morsels (or cubes if buying them here).

Place in the fridge over night.

I sliced them into 12 pieces and then layered them into a sealing bag with wax paper.  Has been a week and they are still fresh.

Enjoy.