Working Mom or not, us moms do not have a lot of free time in general. Here’s a quick way to whip up a “homemade” Valentine’s Day treat. For a classroom of kids. In under an hour. These candy-coated pretzels are a staple in our house, and they’re easy enough for parents and kids to make together. They’re also simple to adjust for any holiday or event just by changing the candy coating or sprinkle color.
Lucky for me, Wal-Mart had a nice little display of Valentine’s Day baking supplies between the grocery and clothing section. I was in and out with all my supplies in under 15 minutes – at 4:30 in the afternoon! Here’s what you’ll need:
Sprinkles (or any kind of decorations)
Candy Melts
Cellophane goodie bags
Mini pretzels or pretzel rods
Wax Paper or Foil
(Time Saver Tip: Get the goodie bags with twist ties – NOT ribbons. Also, Pretzel rods are much quicker to dip than regular pretzels. You could also get some Valentine’s Day M&Ms to mix in.)
Prep your station by using a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet. Melt about a cup of candy melts for 1 minute in the microwave. If they haven’t melted, microwave in 15 second increments until you can easily stir. Here are some of my tips: Use ceramic ramekins, bowls or even coffee mugs to melt the candies. They retain the heat to keep them melted. If the melted candies start getting tough, just pop it back into the microwave for 15 seconds. You don’t have to clean the bowls to add more candies, just add more and reheat. You can dip the pretzels one at a time or put a handful in and scoop out with a fork or toothpick – pretzel rods were even quicker! Place them on the wax paper to cool. (I put them in the fridge while I did the next batch.)
Your kids can go crazy with the sprinkles while the coated pretzels are still warm. We also like to do stripes of contrasting colors.
Once they’re cool (which is usually by the time you’re done with the next batch), you can just pop them off of the wax paper. If you’re really short on time, (and don’t like the idea of giving children a whole goodie bag filled with candy-coated pretzels), put a handful of regular pretzels mixed in with the coated ones. You could also throw some nuts, raisins/craisins, or M&Ms in the mix. This is also a great activity for your kids to practice counting – they can count out the right amount of pretzels for each bag. I honestly just wanted to be done after the third batch and called it a night. Clean up was a snap; just toss out the wax paper, and run hot water in the bowls until you can wipe the candy-coating out with your hand. Wash like normal.
The end result looks like a Valentine’s Day Explosion!
If you’re concerned with gluten sensitivities or food dye, you could use gluten free pretzels, and melt regular chocolate mixed with coconut oil. (See the recipe here.)
These are adorable!
I could really use some of these right now! I might be making these next week! Thanks for the recipe.