Yep, these pretzels have gone from "No, thanks." to "Yes, please."

Here's the deal. Some very generous people who are always spoiling us rotten (you know who you are :) recently gave us giant tubs of cheese balls, animal crackers, and pretzels. The cheese ball tub now looks like this:

Yep, it has been emptied, cleaned out, and is now enjoying a new life as a drum. The animal crackers are well on their way to adding further percussion to our home. And, then there are the pretzels -- still nearly full. Feeling sorry for the tub (who was destined to pine away in our pantry while it's friends made merry music) and not wanting to waste (waste not, want not, remember?), I decided these pretzels needed a makeover.

Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels

In microwave, melt half a bag of milk chocolate morsels and 1 Tbs. shortening in a microwave-safe bowl for 1 minute. Stir until completely melted. Pour chocolate into a tall, skinny glass. Dip the ends of about 2 dozen pretzel sticks and lay them out on wax-paper-lined baking sheets (I actually used plastic plates).

I read somewhere that if you lay the dipped pretzel stick on the wax paper, then pull it slightly, creating a chocolate trail, you can avoid the globby chocolate pieces that form when you lay them down. I don't like to do this because I hate to waste chocolate and because the globby chocolate part is the best part. :) However, I can see how they would look more professional if prepared in this way.

Add a few sprinkles just to add to their allure. Pop them in the fridge until the chocolate is hardened.

Voila! A snack my kids can't resist!

(They also make great gifts. We made these as teacher gifts one year for Valentine's.)