Minty Witches and Turtle Pretzel Nuggets 'Turtle anything' is a magnet for me, and these nuggets are delicious, however......someone at RR magazine is totally clueless when it comes to time management. I'm not at all sure these are worth the effort, so I'm likely to go back to plopping a caramel on a small pretzel ring or twist, nuking briefly, then dipping in chocolate and nuts. Even easier, put a Rolo on a small pretzel ring, nuke briefly to melt a bit, press a pecan half on top. The taste is pretty much the same and it frees up an hour or so for waxing the driveway or whatever you consider more fun than tediously rolling out caramels.
Being a good direction-taker, I started out following directions to roll the caramels flat with a rolling pin. I used Kraft caramels, maybe Brachs would have been softer... or maybe I should have had Wheaties for breakfast, because this task was not as easy as it sounded. I soon started nuking a dozen or so at a time, for about 15 seconds, to soften them slightly, which resulted in being able to squish them flat with my fingers, no rolling involved. (If you over-nuke they'll begin to lose their shape and be too gooey to work with) This made the process speed up acceptably, but still took a while. I've left the RR original directions intact here, in case you happen to feel like punishing yourself or keeping kids busy for hours. I also found that dropping them in the nuts resulted in too heavy a nut coating, so I just sprinkled the nuts over the hot chocolate.
One 14-ounce bag (4 dozen) soft caramels One 10-ounce bag pretzel nuggets, 12 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped , 2 cups natural almonds, toasted and finely chopped Directions: Unwrap the caramels, then, using a rolling pin, roll out each one into a 1/8-inch-thick oval. Wrap a caramel around each pretzel nugget, pinching the ends to seal. In a double boiler over simmering water, melt half the chocolate, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Add the remaining chocolate, remove the top of the double boiler from the saucepan and stir until smooth.
Place the almonds in a shallow bowl. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Using a fork, dip a caramel-covered pretzel in the chocolate to coat, tapping off any excess chocolate. Transfer the pretzel to the almonds and toss to coat; place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pretzels. Let stand until set, about 3 hours. ( I refrigerated them to harden the coating faster).
Yummy for sure, but never again......
Minty Witches
are a favorite I've been making at Christmas for about forty years. I am not crazy about sandwich cookies, hard cookies, or mint for that matter, but these are an exception to all three. Somewhat like Girl Scout Thin Mints on speed, they're very chocolate-y and the chocolate-covered mint patty filling makes them easy to assemble. I buy the long thin boxes of the candies somewhere cheap like Dollar Tree. They also carry small bags of the same type mints ( like mini York's) in small bags. There are generally about 20 per box, check the label for quantity. Thiis time I happened to find orange-flavored mints covered in chocolate.
Combine 1/2 c solid shortening, 1/2 c. sugar, and 1 egg, and beat til creamy. Blend in 6 oz mint-flavored chocolate chips, melted, and 1/4 c. white corn syrup. Sift together 1 3/4 c flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt. Stir into chocolate, mix well, and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Just add about 1/4 tsp peppermint extract if you use plain chocolate chips.
Preheat oven to 350. Roll into tiny uniform-size balls, about the size of a maraschino cherry or a malted milk ball. It's important not to let them get too big, or the filling will get lost inside. We want them to spread to be only the same size as the mints. Roll them in granulated sugar, and bake for 10-15 minutes. Let stand on cookie sheets a minute before removing, but do not let them cool....they harden quickly Remove half of them to a rack, turning upside down. Immediately top with a peppermint and then the other cookie, right side up. As the mint begins to soften, gently push to squish the filling to the cookie size. Cool. The original recipe says it makes 48 but I never get more than 36. They are witchy-good!
