Loaded Pretzels.

When I was a college student, living with a bunch of junk-food-loving girls, one roommate taught me to make these lovelies. Loaded Pretzels are decadent, beautiful and easy. The perfect combo of sweet and salty. They are easy to customize to taste and event. I made them last weekend for the ladies I visit teach, and decided to share the goodness with you.

What you need:
1 pkg. (10 oz.) pretzel rods
1 pkg. (14 oz.) caramels
1 tbsp. evaporated milk
1 1/4 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/4 c. butterscotch chips (or green mint chips if you feel like being festive)
2/3 c. toffee, chopped
1/4 c. chopped walnuts, toasted

How to:
1. Break the pretzel rods in half.  (This not only makes them cuter, but it also allows the eater to actually finish their treat. These are very rich. Half a rod is a manageable amount of sugar.)
2. Melt caramels and milk in a saucepan. Be careful not to overcook or the caramel will get too hard.
3. Dip the pretzel rod half, broken end first, into the caramel. Then, roll in the chip/toffee/nut mixture.
4. Devour. Or giveaway. Or both. (My husband likes to use his rod as a hot chocolate stirrer. He loves the way it tastes with all the chips melted in his drink. Mmmm.)

Leftover Chip Tip:
When I make recipes like the Loaded Pretzels and I have leftover chocolate/toffee/butterscotch/etc chips, I dump them into my "Chip Bag." Then, when we are making chocolate chip cookies, we pull out this bag. We love how the mixed hodge-podge cookies turn out.