Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Chocolate Covered Pretzel Shamrocks

By Janna Schiavo of Sterilite Corporation

St. Patrick’s Day is this Friday. Making chocolate covered pretzel shamrocks is a fun way to celebrate with your kids and they are a great treat to serve at a St. Patrick’s Day party.

The shamrock is one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking of St. Patrick’s Day. The lore is that the shamrock became linked with Irish culture when St Patrick used its three leaves to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans in the fifth century.

Read on to learn how to make this tasty twist on a classic component of St. Patrick’s Day.


Chocolate Covered Pretzel Shamrocks
You will need:

About 2 Cups of Pretzels
12 Ounces of White Chocolate Chips
2 Tablespoons shortening
A few drops of green food coloring


Directions:

1. Melt the chocolate chips and shortening, this can be done either in the microwave or with a double boiler. Be sure that your bowl and utensil are completely dry. Water can cause chocolate to seize (become hard and lumpy) making it impossible to dip the pretzels in. 
   1.  If using the microwave, be sure to use a microwave safe bowl and a low power setting. Heat the chocolate chips and shortening for 30 seconds at a time, taking it out to stir and check the progress.  
   2. If using the double boiler method, you will need a pot and a glass or metal bowl. Heat a small amount of water in the pot; the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Place the bowl on top of the pot of hot water and add the chocolate and shortening, stir until evenly melted.  
      
      
      
2. Add a few drops of green food coloring to the melted chocolate and mix in. It is recommended to use oil based food coloring because water can cause the chocolate to become unworkable.  Although if you cannot find an oil based food coloring, adding liquid based food coloring before the chocolate has melted will reduce the chances of the chocolate seizing. 
   
   
   
3. Dip a pretzel into the chocolate, hold it over the bowl to allow the excess chocolate to drip back in. If the chocolate is getting stuck in the pretzel holes, I found poking it with a toothpick to be an easy way to clear it out. Then lay the pretzel on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Dip two more pretzels and lay them next to the first with the bottoms touching so that they form a shamrock shape.
   
   
   
4. Dip a pretzel into the chocolate, hold it over the bowl to allow the excess chocolate to drip back in. If the chocolate is getting stuck in the pretzel holes, I found poking it with a toothpick to be an easy way to clear it out. Then lay the pretzel on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Dip two more pretzels and lay them next to the first with the bottoms touching so that they form a shamrock shape.
   
   
5. Repeat this process with the remaining pretzels and chocolate. If the chocolate cools and becomes too stiff to dip the pretzels you can put it back over the double boiler for a few minutes or microwave it for another couple of 30 second increments. 
   
   
   
6. Once you’ve finished making the shamrocks refrigerate the trays for about 15 minutes to set the chocolate. You can use a paring knife to trim stray chocolate from the edges of the shamrock.  Serve immediately or store in an airtight container to keep for up to two weeks. The Sterilite Ultra•Seal™ 12.0 Cup Rectangle is the perfect size for storing the shamrocks.