100th Post: Kitchen Remodel and Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzels

I can’t believe I’ve posted 99 recipes on this blog already!  I mean, I guess it has been almost a year, but that’s a lot of posts.  That’s kind of exciting!  It’s very timely that coinciding with my 100th blog post is the completion of our kitchen remodel.  Well, okay, it’s been completed for over a month now, but I’ve just now gotten around to taking the “after” pictures.  When I started this blog, I wrote in the “About” section about how I have a really small kitchen but still love to make food with big flavors.  Now I am lucky enough to have a big, beautiful, updated kitchen, complete with granite countertops (and lots of countertop space, at that!).  I love my new kitchen and am thoroughly enjoying being able to spread out a bit.  It’s also so nice to be able to entertain and have our guests be able to hang out at the island while the food is being prepared and cleaned up.  Even though I now have an updated cooking space, my philosophy remains the same – food with big flavor that doesn’t take culinary training to prepare.  I’m still just an ordinary woman who loves to cook, though I have to admit, I might love it even more in my new kitchen.  So here are some before and after pictures for your viewing enjoyment!

I have to give a huge shout out to my husband and our family, who did all of the work on our kitchen.  That’s right, we didn’t hire a contractor to take out two walls, replace portions of the ceiling, remove a header, drywall, build a cubby for the fridge, install laminate flooring, put up cabinets, install the sink plumbing, paint… That’s right, except for the electrical and the crown molding on top of the cabinets, we did it all ourselves, with the help of some wonderful family members.

To celebrate my 100th post, of course I have to share a recipe with peanut butter and chocolate.  It’s that time of year when people, myself included, start thinking about what treats they are going to make for the holiday parties and to give to friends and neighbors.  In fact, just this morning, my mom and I went grocery shopping for our annual cookie incident, which will be taking place next weekend.  If you don’t know what the cookie incident is, you’ll have to check out the “About” tab!

Anyway, I have been calling these treats chocolate peanut butter pretzel thingies.  I really should come up with a better name, but I got nothin’.  I’ve seen them called Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzels, which isn’t terribly original either, but clearly I couldn’t come up with anything better, so we’re going with that.

These are pretty simple, with few ingredients.  They do have a few steps to them, so they take a little it of time.  They are so delicious though, they are worth it!  Give these a try and see if they earn a spot on your holiday treat list!

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Pretzels

Adapted from 17 and Baking

Ingredients:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• Pretzels
• 2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi sweet, but you could use milk chocolate, or a combination)

In a small bowl, beat the peanut butter and butter together until smooth and creamy. Beat in the powdered sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until well mixed.  If the mixture doesn’t seem stiff enough to hold it’s shape, you can add a little more powdered sugar.

Lay pretzels out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or wax paper (easy clean up!).  Roll teaspoons of the peanut butter mixture between your palms to form balls, and place on top of the pretzels.  Cover the peanut butter balls with another pretzel to form a sandwich.  Freeze the pretzel sandwiches for 20-30 minutes.

Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips. Dip half of each pretzel sandwich in chocolate. Return the tray to the freezer and chill until the chocolate sets. Store in the refrigerator until serving time.

Enjoy!