GIFT RECIPE:

Sweet and Salty Twists

I wish I had a nickel for every compliment I've gotten on these babies, and the funny thing is they are SOOOOOOOOOOOO easy to make. Here's what you'll need:

Vanilla flavored candy melts
small twist pretzels
microwaveable bowl
fork

You can find candy melts at your local cake decorating store or even some craft stores in the cake decorating aisle. They come in a variety of colors or you can buy white and color them yourself. A word to the wise - use food coloring made especially for the candy melts or you could get into trouble with chemistry (nothing explosive, some food coloring just messes up the consistency). You can sometimes find candy "bark" for melting in the baking aisle of your grocery store, depending on how well they are stocked. You can also use chocolate flavor, but I've found that the vanilla tastes the best.

The KEY is to mix. Place your candy melts in a microwaveable bowl (glass works best) and zap for 30 second. MIX WELL. Even if the candy melts are hardly melted - you must distribute the heat or you could burn your candy. Continue with 30 second increments and plenty of stirring until the melts are…nice and melty. If you are going to color the mixture now is the time to do it.

Pour in a handful or two of pretzels, mix and carefully take out with a fork. You can lightly bang the fork on the side of the bowl to get off excess candy. Place covered pretzel on wax paper. If you have used a glass dish it should continue to stay nice and warm and keep your candy melted until you've used it all up. If it does begin to harden, simply micro again for a few seconds and stir.

Now here's the fun part - melt a different color and drizzle it over the dipped pretzels to make them look pretty. Or you can use sprinkles for another dazzling effect. Try dipping other things if you wish - animal crackers, cookies, potato chips, chow mein noodles (I do this for every Chinese New Year - some people call them "haystacks").

Once your covered creations are dry (pop them in the freezer for a bit if it's a hot summer day) peel them off the wax paper and package them up in a nice cellophane bag for a present, or just in a bowl for a party. Soon you will have a horde of adoring and addicted admirers who can't seem to stop talking about these magic bits of heaven.