Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

/ Melissah

WARNING: This recipe is dangerous.

Before you proceed, please know that salted caramel pretzel bark may induce random spells of uncontrollable snacking, intense sensations of euphoria and heightened protective instincts (over your share of the pretzel bark, of course).

I’m kidding, sort of.  But this recipe really is special.  My housemate actually said that she is “going to get pregnant one day and crave this stuff”… it’s THAT good (and she also usually comes up with crazy hyperboles like this).  Another one of my housemates told me that I should probably hide it from the rest of the house (I took this advice).

The best part is, you probably already have all of these ingredients in your kitchen.  It takes about 15 minutes to whip together, and the end result will impress all of your friends.  I just have pictures of the end product here, but the pin (as in Pintrest) I found the recipe on has a very nice picture guide if you prefer a visual step-by-step guide. You can find the link here.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

1/2 bag mini pretzel twists
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 bag of chocolate chips
Sea salt

Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper (NOT wax paper) and spread pretzels evenly over the bottom (mine didn’t overlap, I arranged them in neat rows).  Now, preheat the oven to 350 F.

Set aside, and melt butter and sugar in a medium sauce pan on medium heat.  Bring to a boil, and stir continuously until mixture sticks to the bottom of the pan and forms a smooth caramel.  Let it bubble and get nice and thick before you pour the caramel evenly over the pretzels.

Place jelly roll sheet in oven for 5 minutes, remove, sprinkle chocolate chips over the top, and place back into the oven for 1 more minute.  Spread the chocolate around with a spatula until it is mostly melted, then sprinkle generously with sea salt. Let the pan sit on counter top for about 5 minutes, and then place in the freezer to harden for at least two hours.

Break bark into piece with your hands, and try not to finish the whole pan in one night! This is best stored in an air-tight bag in the freezer.

26 thoughts on “Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark”

  1. oh, yum! looks beautiful melissah! can’t wait to give it a try and sample it at the cafe where i work, i’ll let you know how it goes! 🙂

    Reply

    • OMG! This bark is absolutely to die for. I actually really liked your simple carmel recipe, despite the more intricate one that was posted in the comments. It came out soft and delicious – really easy to make too, and hard to screw up. Very great for a candy newbie. Unfortunately I skipped over your tip about the parchment paper and used wax – which resulted in caramel that you could not pry from the wax paper, and definitely a sticky mess 😦 However, that did NOT stop my family’s greedy hands from devouring nearly all of it. I’ll be making a new one tomorrow for our holiday cookie trays. Thanks for the amazing recipe!

      Reply

  2. This sounds like a wonderful idea, but “Bring to a boil, and stir continuously until mixture sticks to the bottom of the pan and forms a smooth caramel.” is kind of vague.

    In my experience, if you stir sugar while making a caramel, you will cause crystals to form making it granular, like fudge- not crisp like toffee. Are we talking soft ball stage or hard crack? What temp do you cook the caramel?

    For those who need a bit more of a detailed recipe, try this one:

    1 stick salted butter, cut into chunks (do NOT sub margarine)
    1c granulated sugar
    1/4c brown sugar, firmly packed
    2T water

    Put butter, sugars and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. DO NOT STIR. When butter melts, gently swirl pan to mix with sugar. Clip on a candy thermometer and cook to 285 degrees (hard crack). Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (careful, mixture will bubble a bit) and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. Stir until well blended. Pour evenly over pretzels as directed in recipe above. While toffee is still hot, sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Allow chocolate chips to melt on warm toffee for 5 minutes, then spread into an even layer. Let cool 10 minutes on the counter before putting in the fridge to set. Break into pieces and enjoy!

    You can also pour the toffee mixture over chopped, toasted pecans, almonds or hazelnuts (instead of pretzels) to make an amazing buttercrunch toffee.

    Reply

    • No, I don’t think so! I’ve made this 6-7 times since I wrote this, and from my experience I would say that this simply just tastes better if eaten straight from the freezer. The caramel gets a teeny bit soft if it’s out too long but I would just advise your friends to store it in the freezer when they get home. It won’t melt or be ruined if it’s out for a bit under the tree or travelling to a Christmas party though :).

      I’ll be giving this as Christmas gifts too!

      Reply

  6. We made this twice in three days. The second time we used less chocolate, and both times added chopped pecans on top of the chocolate. We couldn’t keep out of it.

    Reply

  8. I made this with all of my Christmas gift giving sweets, and I gotta say, it’s the best thing I made! I used leftover chopped up almonds from the almond roca bark I also made, I just placed the pretzels over the almonds crumbs and went from there. This recipe is definitely a keeper, thanks!!

    Reply

  11. I’ve just popped my first batch in the freezer and can’t wait to break it up and try it tomorrow. Does it start to melt if it’s out of the freezer for a few hours, in a cellophane bag?

    I’m a newbie baker and haven’t made caramel before. I stirred it constantly and the bubbles and volume increased. It just started to go a bit grainy and changed colour slightly, and I took it off the heat.

    Reply

    • I just tried some and it’s tasty although over-the-top buttery for me (I don’t eat butter much). I used one cup of butter for 2 sticks. Small doses people, it’s no wallflower!

      Reply

  12. Pingback: Forgotten Sweets | Sweet Talk

Leave a reply to Jan Cancel reply