dark chocolate pretzel clusters

Friday, the temperature high was forecast to be 9C (48F)...brr.

As soon as I saw this, I knew I had to try it...Ellie Krieger's Dark Chocolate Pretzel Clusters.

Only 2 ingredients...easy and yummy!

Dark Chocolate Pretzel Clusters from "Comfort Food Fix" by Ellie Krieger : makes 12 clusters

4 ounces any shape thick-style salted pretzels (113 grams)
6 ounces dark chocolate (60%-70%), chopped (170 grams)

Crush your pretzels to about 1/4-inch pieces, you should end up with about 2 cups of pretzels.
On a double boiler, melt your chocolate.
Stir in your pretzels and coat well.
Scoop tablespoon-sized mounds onto a parchment paper.
Cool in fridge for about 20 minutes.
Serving size: 1 cluster

NOTES: I bought a small bag of pretzels and adjusted the proportions...in my case, I used 56 grams of pretzels and 84 grams of chocolate.

I used that chocolate bar above made by Hagensborg, a slightly acidic bar which was also kind of creamy. And I also added about 20 grams of 60% Ghiradelli chocolate chips.

I didn't crush my pretzels, just broke the pretzels in half....I ended up with 7 clusters.

The salty-sweet combination is really delicious and hard to stop at one cluster.

'tis the season

As Rowena said in her comment, "Sounds like beer season is still trying to hang on".

Well, it is still indeed beer season and I recently picked up some brews from Minoh Brewery.

Their pale ale...very fruity and easy to drink.

Their weizen is cloudy, starts off fruity and has a slight bitter after taste.

Their pilsner is nice too. All three are perfect for this heat.

While walking around Umeda, I found honey wheat pretzels at Seijo Ishii (in really small bags)....When I got home, I melted some butter, added a sprinkling of dill, garlic powder and some powdered ranch dressing and baked it for 10 minutes.

Not the same as my mom's seasoned pretzels, but close.

I also found some fresh figs at the market, so I got some bleu cheese, drizzled some honey, nuked it for 20 seconds and then sprinkled some chopped walnuts.

The weather is still humid and hot but I think I'm doing a good job at keeping my tummy happy.

inspired

I was inspired by Rowena's post to make these....

The first shot were mini pretzels.

The second shot was a huge sourdough pretzel.

I used 70% chocolate, but I think I may have to look for non-salted pretzels, these were way too salty for me.

Not wanting to fail, I tried using some milk chocolate (the last 2 shots).

It balanced out the saltiness. I guess the chocolate has to be about 50% for these salty pretzels.