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Continuing on with the no-bake theme today, Sally’s sweltering hot kitchen brings you the one thing that may be even better than chocolate covered pretzels…
Pretzels dipped into a pool of semi-homemade caramel sauce and sprinkled with all sorts of divine yumminess.
Pretzels are my favorite snack food. It may be because I have a HUGE love for honey mustard… and pretzels & mustard go together like PB&J, but I seriously LOVE snacking on pretzels. Pretzel rods, honey wheat pretzels, pretzel sticks, and so on. I have oodles of half eaten bags of pretzels in my pantry. Hence, my Bite-Size Peanut Butter Pretzel M&M Cookies.
This seriously fool-proof recipe is like the god of the sweet/salty snack realm. Gooey caramel enveloping a super salty, crunchy pretzel rod, and garnished with whatever tiny topping your little heart desires. I chose crushed up Reese’s Pieces (love!), Heath bar toffee bits, mini chocolate chips, and obviously… sprinkles.
And don’t they kind of look gourmet? Wrap them, box them up, and give them to the peeps you love. They are such a fun treat for a bake sale too! They would definitely be the first to go. People love food on sticks, especially kids! I brought them into work and my coworkers went nuts over them like they were gold or something. Of course, I didn’t admit these babies took me a mere 20 minutes to whip up. Ha! A girl’s gotta keep some secrets. 
These jacked-up fancy schmancy pretzels are cheap, quick, and completely adaptable. Next time I might add toasted walnuts or crushed honey roasted peanuts! 
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Makes 18 pretzels.
Ingredients
- 1 14-ounce package caramels (about 40-50), unwrapped
- 2 Tbsp whipping cream or half-and-half
- 18 large pretzel rods
- 1.5 cup assorted toppings (crushed Reese's Pieces, nuts, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc)
Instructions
- Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, heat and stir caramels and whipping cream over medium-low heat just until caramels are melted. Remove from heat and allow the caramel to cool and thicken up for about 6-7 minutes.
- While cooling, get your toppings ready to go. I put my 4 different toppings into 4 separate bowls.
- Once caramel is relatively cool, hold each pretzel rod by one end and dip the pretzel into the caramel, swirling it around to get it coated well. Shake of any excess caramel. Immediately sprinkle toppings onto pretzel, twirling the pretzel to get all sides covered. I did this over a paper plate to catch any extras.
- Place pretzels onto prepared baking sheet to allow the caramel to set - about 15 minutes. I rotated them every 2 minutes so they didn't end up with a completely flat side.
- In hot months, store in refrigerator. I find they are pretty tasty served cold!
Notes
*Avoid rolling the caramel pretzels into the toppings. The warm caramel will melt the toppings and create a huge mess. It is much easier to sprinkle the toppings on the pretzels.
Recipe source: sallysbakingaddiction.com
© Sally’s Baking Addiction. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Here are a few of my other favorite sweet + salty treats!
Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting
Brown Butter Pretzel M&M Blondies
Bite-Sized Peanut Butter Pretzel M&M Cookies
Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites
Salted Peanut Nutella Puppy Chow
See all of my favorite sweet & salty recipes.
See all of my favorite no-bake recipes.
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Yum! I’m loving all the no-bake stuff you’re sharing! {and SO sorry about yesterday!}
Sophie recently posted..single serving deep dish chocolate chip cookies
Thanks Sophie! And no worries.
Great idea and these would make great gifts. And they’d be great to make at a party…from bridal shower to kiddie bdays. Everyone gets to take home their goodies!
Averie @ Averie Cooks recently posted..Old-Fashioned Butter Mints
Yep, they’d be perfect gifts! People love food on sticks. It was crazy how WILD everyone went over these at work yesterday!
Love these! Pretzels are one of my favorite all time snacks, add some candy and I’m there
Liz (Little Bitty Bakes) recently posted..Blueberry CHOconut Cookies {CHOrific Recipes}
Pretzels + candy = win win! Which is why I love pretzel M&Ms so much too!
There is always one or more bags of pretzels in our cupboards too! I can’t get enough of salty and sweet treats! Food on sticks is just way more fun to eat!!! These caramel pretzels are so much fun with all the tasty goodies you added to them! Want. NOW!!!
Jocelyn @BruCrew Life recently posted..Trick or Treat Tuesday
I agree, food on sticks is the best! Cake pops, popsicles, corn dogs haha! thanks Jocelyn.
I am doing a summer bbq with the food theme “summer on a stick” so these are going to be perfect!
Summer on a stick!! That is SO cute! Let me know if you need more ideas, I could come up with plenty!
I think I might worship you. This is genius! (I almost think I might like these better than chocolate dipped…but shhhh don’t tell anyone.)
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust recently posted..Crazy Sweet Tuesday
The combination of sweet and salty is always a win! These look so fun.
Thanks Dee! Salty/Sweet is my favorite.
I LOVE covered pretzels but have never had them with caramel–a shame, right??? These are darling. I’m off to the grocery store!
Darcy @ The Chic Country Cowgirl recently posted..The Proposal Story
Haha thank you Darcy! My coworker called them “darling” too! Too funny. Caramel and pretzels are SO good together.
Pretzels dipped in stuff are my go to party food! I love that we make so many similar goodies
now if I could just get my pictures to look like yours….
Have a super day, girl!
Back For Seconds recently posted..Patriotic Chocolate Dunked Krispies
They are MY go-to party food too!! Hope you’re having a good day! Xo!
These look amazing, but suddenly I’m craving pretzels and honey mustard. What in the world did you do to me?
Karly recently posted..Fiesta 7 Layer Dip
Haha! Karly, I pretty much eat pretzels dipped into honey mustard on a daily basis. But lately, it’s been caramel. So healthy, right?!
yum! i’ve made white chocolate caramel pretzels before that were awesome…i’ll have to try them with these toppings!
sarah k @ the pajama chef recently posted..Strawberry Coconut Baked Oatmeal
white chocolate caramel pretzels? oh my goodness, that sounds like HEAVEN! I must make those, Sarah!
I love honey mustard, too! And pretzels = best food ever. I love going to Target or food courts and getting pretzels–I don’t even need salt or butter; the plain, fluffy, fat pretzel is perfect for me
but now I think I’ll be demanding caramel with my pretzels and Reese’s and HONEY ROASTED PEANUTS because that’s a flipping smart idea, and also because these are positively gorgeous and so awesome.
Hayley recently posted..Monster Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Yes, honey roasted peanuts… it sounds incredible, right?! I love Auntie Anne’s pretzels. Those are my favorite.
Thanks Hayley!
I can never get over how super duper creative you are, Sally! These look incredible for summertime snacking! LOVE the toppings you added to them, too. Keep up the awesome work!
Georgia! Welcome back.
Thank you so much for your kind comments, they always make me smile. These are PERFECT for summer, you are right!
i looove the sweet/salty combo, too + these look awesome! they are super pretty, too – they’d be great for a party or shower favor, since you could color-coordinate them to go with a theme, too. love!
amy @ fearless homemaker recently posted..fresh peach lemonade
Sweet + salty is my absolute fave! I’m making them again for 4th of July w/ blue + red sprinkles! Thanks Amy
i was thinking about making this the other day because i had absolutely NOTHING else to bake. i’m in a rut right now. but then my pretzels were honey wheat ones so i didn’t know if it’d turn out ok…but i’m glad that you ended up making these for me haha, so do you deliver?
Julie @ Table for Two recently posted..DIY Spice Organization
I’ve tried it with honey wheat pretzels before, Julie! They are SO good dipped in caramel and chocolate. I’ve dipped them in white chocolate before and I think I like the white chocolate the best!
I used the honey wheat ones when I made them; people seemed to like them, and since they were shorter than the pretzel rods, they were a little easier to dip in the caramel.
Alexis recently posted..Book Review: Below Stairs
Yum! Sweet and salty is the way to go!
Jessica@AKitchenAddiction recently posted..Grilled Banana Sundaes
I agree! LOVE salty/sweet.
Thanks to your blog & the incredible recipes, I am helping my daughter start a little business selling sweet treats! We’re brand new at this, and I had a question…what can we use to wrap the pretzel rods? Thank you for the sweet inspiration!
Hi Linda! So glad that I’ve been an inspiration! I would suggest wrapping the pretzel rods up real nice in cellophane paper.
Yes please!
Sarah @ Miss CandiQuik recently posted..Throwback Thursday
I made these for a couple 4th of July BBQs yesterday, and they were a hit! I used red and blue M&Ms, Almond Joy round candies, almonds, sprinkles, and crumbled Heath bars. They went super fast, and they were fun to make! When I melted all the caramel, the liquid wasn’t deep enough to fully “dunk” the pretzels, so I poured the melted caramel into a glass measuring cup, and used a spatula to help swirl the caramel onto the pretzels. It seemed to work pretty well; do you have any other tips for getting the caramel all around half the pretzel? It was kind of gooey and when it cooled too much, I just popped it in the microwave to warm it up a bit so it was easier to work with. Such a fun recipe, and it’s easy to adapt for each holiday! Thanks for sharing!
I used a spatula to swirl as well. That seemed to work for me very well! I had to work quickly when the caramel was hot. SO glad you made and enjoyed them Alexis! honey wheat pretzels are my favorite
Hi Sally – I love your blog and all your great recipes! I have a couple pf quick questions about the caramel dipped pretzels: how long do they keep, i.e. how far in advance can you make them? Also, do you think humidity would effect whether or not the caramel sets up or not? Thank you so much!
they keep very well! up to 1 week. I made these on a Saturday and they were still great on a Wednesday! I’d say make them ahead of time, maybe 3-4 days max. I suggest not making these on a humid day, unless you have the AC going high. Humidity in the air won’t allow the caramel to sufficiently set up, just as you expected. thank you Emily!
Thank You!
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