2020 New Year’s Pretzel Sparklers

Ready to party like 2020 is about to be over?! While we won’t be attending any events, there are still tons of ways to celebrate–like this fancy little number, for instance. It’s a great activity for all skill levels and attention spans. 

Nothing says “bye bye 2020” like sparklers and chocolate. These chocolate covered pretzel sparkler beauties are super easy to make, super delicious to eat, and they only have a few main ingredients. So, without further ado, let’s get ready to party like it’s not 2020.

Ingredients:

• Pretzel Sticks
• White Chocolate Chips
• Dark or Milk Chocolate Chips (or both… yeah, probably best to do both for good measure)
• Gold, Silver, and White Sprinkles
• Baking Pan (or two if you want to keep the party going and have enough of these treats to last past the strike of midnight. After all, you do deserve it)
• Medium Saucepan
• Medium-Sized Glass or Ceramic Bowl (a little bigger than your saucepan)
• 3 Regular-Sized Bowls
• Wax Paper
• Oven Mitt

Directions:

There are two ways to melt the chocolate. You can either carefully microwave for 5-10 seconds at a time or mix over a pan of boiling water. The microwave is obviously easier, but it can make it so that your chocolate is either burned or not tempered. The latter means that the chocolate will never set. It’s risky business, but fairly easy once you have the hang of it. Otherwise, follow steps 1-6 to use the saucepan chocolate melting method.

1. Fill your saucepan ⅓ of the way up with water.
2. Put your first flavor of chocolate chips (pick a color, any color) into your medium-sized glass or ceramic bowl, filling about ⅓ to ½ way full. 
3. Nestle the chocolate-filled bowl into your saucepan. 
4. Bring the water in your saucepan to a boil.
5. Stir the chocolate until it is fully melted. Don’t continue to boil after it has melted as this will make it all crumbly.
6. Using your oven mitt, take the bowl out and set aside, covered with a tea towel to stop too much heat from escaping
7. To decorate, dip your pretzel rods ⅔ of the way into your choice of chocolate. As you’re pulling the pretzel rod from the chocolate, gently shake to remove any excess. 
8. Hover your coated pretzel rod over a wax-paper-lined baking pan.
9. Sprinkle with sprinkles while turning. Making sure that you’re still hovering over the wax paper.
10. Repeat 1-10 with different chocolate/sprinkle combinations until you’ve decorated all of your pretzel sticks.
11. Party Time!!

About Stephen’s Place

Stephen’s Place is an independent apartment community for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, located in Vancouver, WA (7 minutes from Portland, OR).

If you have a loved one with developmental or intellectual disabilities who is looking for a community to live in, please contact us for more information. 

Stephen’s Place is a private-pay apartment community due to our state-of-the-art amenities and programs. We are a nonprofit and do not profit from our community. We are private pay because we spend more than some housing communities to ensure that our residents are comfortable and can safely live their lives with independence and dignity.