Pretzel Sparklers

The first 4th of July that I knew Evan, we weren’t dating just yet. One year later, we had been dating about eleven months and had no plans for the holiday. On a whim, I suggested going to Michigan to visit my hometown of Ludington for the weekend. He said yes. I found a last minute vacancy at a beach side motel. A tradition was born.

In the years since, our annual 4th of July vacation has evolved into a week long stay in a lovely little cottage across the street from my Great Aunt Pat’s house, where my cousins, who drive up from Atlanta, stay for the week as well. Did I mention it’s a two block walk to the beach? And a short hike to downtown? And that I dream about the AMAZING local food the other 51 weeks of the year? (Stay tuned for next week’s Fabulous Food Finds post, Ludington edition!)

I was on the lookout for something festive to share at the family BBQ on the 4th when I came across this recipe in a magazine at my vet’s office, of all places. I strayed a bit from the original recipe, which called for drizzling the pretzel rods with chocolate (who knew drizzling chocolate could be so hard?!), but my variation turned out just as delicious and fun.

You don’t need much to make this dessert: a bag of pretzel rods, white chocolate chips, red and blue decorating crystals, and some red and blue M&M’s. You can pay a little more to buy single-color M&M’s at a party store, or you can just do what I did and pick all the blues and reds out of a regular old bag. You’ll also need a square of wax paper to put the pretzels on after you’ve dipped them in the chocolate.

Melt your white chocolate chips in the microwave or using a double boiler according to the package directions.

Dip one end of each pretzel road into the chocolate, gently tapping off any excess chocolate.

Sprinkle a bit each of the red and blue crystals onto the chocolate covered ends of your pretzels before they start to dry.

Next, press one blue and one red M&M into the chocolate of each pretzel rod. They may slip off to the side a bit, but that’s okay. They will still taste amazing even if they don’t look perfect!

Let the white chocolate harden and viola! They are ready to eat. (I had to put mine into the refrigerator to harden because it was an extremely warm day outside.)

Have a happy, safe, and delicious 4th of July!