Merry Christmas from The Culinary Capers! And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, then I hope you’re having a fabulous December 24th and 25th off of work, and with family and friends!

My gift to you this year: simplicity in the kitchen. You have stressed yourself out with holiday shopping, unexpected visits, and multiple trips to the grocery store.

But this chocolate pretzel candy couldn’t be any easier.Seriously, if you get a phone call from relatives telling you they will be visiting in an hour, you could make this happen and look totally prepared.

And it’s salty, sweet, and peanuty – the perfect holiday (who am I kidding, anytime!) culinary combination.

So Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, to all the readers of The Culinary Capers!

Ingredients (makes about 2 dozen small pieces):

• 1 cup broken pretzel pieces – you might find yourself with a lot of these if you attempted the Reindeer Cake Pops
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup dark chocolate melts, or cocoa candy melts, melted

Directions:

1. Scoop the peanut butter into a bowl, and melt in the microwave for 20 seconds, or until slightly melted.

2. Pour in the pretzel pieces, and gently mix until everything is coated.

3. Scoop out tablespoon-sized lumps of peanut-buttery pretzel, and set it on wax paper to cool.

4. Once the peanut butter has cooled, use a fork to dip the lumps into the melted chocolate, then put back on the wax paper until completely hardened.