Pepper Design Blog

Good Eats: White Chocolate Pretzel Stir Sticks

Update: Hmmmm, something is definitely up with the buttons not showing on the left side of the blog. Hopefully that little glitch will be fixed soon!

Sweet and salty is an amazing combination. And white chocolate dipped pretzels? Trader Joe’s was on to something when they started selling those mini coated pretzels by the bag full.

I have always thought that the shape of pretzel rods would make for an excellent party something… and then it occurred to me that they would make deliciously tasting stir sticks to serve with tea or coffee!

Liv and I whipped up a dozen or so before a book club meeting to serve with tea.

One double boiler full of white chocolate chips, a half of a container of silver sugar (found in my pantry but originally from Michaels) and a canister of pretzel rods later and we had a super yummy snack (and probably ate half of the finished stir sticks before the ladies even arrived).

The toughest part was figuring out how to let them cool after being freshly coated in warm chocolate. I tried standing them upright in a cup (but as predicted they dripped downward), and the best solution ended up being a cookie rack sprayed with a non stick cooking spray and lined with wax paper underneath. The pretzel sticks did have little indentations along the bottom after the chocolate had hardened, but it wasn’t terribly noticeable.

These would be great for a shower (cover them in blue or pink sugar/sprinkles), a coffee bar (with swirled milk chocolate on top), packaged as thank you gifts for teachers or friends, or even perhaps made as favors with a little bow for a wedding or party.

We covered a few in rainbow sprinkles just for Liv. I know… not the healthiest snack, but I can think of worse .

Happy, happy weekend!! 

PS more good eats recipes sorted right here.

Ombre Scalloped Tissue Paper Lantern

Liv and I worked on this little project back when we were planning for her 2nd birthday. But then we didn’t get a chance to make more than one and we forgot to hang it at the party! So it’s been in our garage ever since.

We pulled it out for a little piñata fun, even though it was really meant to hang over one of the string lights in our backyard (you can see the undecorated paper lanterns on the string lights in the party pics here).

A standard paper lantern, ombre layers of scalloped tissue paper and a long pink ribbon to hang it with – an easy and fun pom project.

I turned to Etsy to find the perfect ombre tissue paper (every color of tissue paper known to man is available in various stores!) and bought four pretty shades of pink from PomLove.

Rather than cut out circles, I cut out 3″ scalloped strands of half circles, and then slowly wrapped them around the lantern using double sided tape to adhere.

I’ve seen versions of this idea that are sealed off at the bottom and filled with candy, seems like an easy non-paper-mache way to make a fun piñata.

I had planned on hanging it in Liv’s big girl room, but the tissue paper may have seen its day by the end of today. Too fragile to keep!

Far too fun to play with. 

A Fairy Good Time

Happy Tuesday! We had a busy weekend filled with snow, sledding and nights next to a cozy cabin fire. Even a few games of Scattegories (love). We were up in the mountains with friends and it was a great little break!

I haven’t had a chance yet to share a very sweet and adorable party that a girlfriend of mine threw for her 3-year-old, check out all of these wonderful fairy details.

Isn’t Gigi the sweetest fairy? Oh wow, heart is melting.

One of my favorite details: ice cube trays for all of the kiddies, and each compartment filled with a yummy lunch treat.

The dessert table was amazing, too! Check out that fabric bunting and all of the little goodies.

A more detailed shot of the cake:

Nana and birthday girl enjoying lunch.

What a beautiful celebration! We had such a good time. Happy {very belated} birthday, little fairy!

See you all tomorrow! Hopefully with results from this little challenge. Oh boy.