By Request

BETTY SHIMABUKURO

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Easy chocolate pretzels
can be kicked up a notch

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Some things are so familiar, so common, that it seems anyone could make them. Right up until you try to make them yourself -- then no one can seem to tell you how.

Kacey Fujiyama learned this when she decided she wanted to make pretzel clusters, those candy-coated snacks that show up in paper muffin cups at so many potlucks. "I know this is an old recipe, but I searched a lot of the local cookbooks and could not find it."

These recipes come from Susy Kawamoto and Gregg R. Gillespie, super-bakers who two weeks ago shared their thoughts on creating a hard stone cookie.

Kawamoto, a local baker, came up with the ultra-simple, no-bake instructions for Fujiyama's pretzels (melt chocolate, dip pretzels, pau).

Gillespie, author of "1,001 Cookie Recipes" (Black Dog & Leventhal, 1995) and my newest e-mail pal, takes the concept further with a recipe for a baked chocolate pretzel.

Gillespie notes that these pretzels can be given a tropical flavor by substituting Crème de Cacao for the vanilla in the pretzel and coffee-flavored brandy in the icing. Sprinkle chopped flaked coconut or macadamia nuts over the icing before it has a chance to set.

With the holiday sweets season looming, both these recipes should come in handy.

Chocolate-Covered Pretzels

6 (1-ounce) squares chocolate or white chocolate
1 (15 ounce) package mini-twist pretzels
Candy sprinkles

Melt chocolate in a double boiler, stirring constantly.

Dip pretzels halfway into the chocolate. Roll in sprinkles and lay on wax paper. Refrigerate until chocolate hardens. Store in airtight container.

Chocolate Pretzels

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
2 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
>> Frosting
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1-1/4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Blend butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk.

In another bowl, sift together the flour and cocoa powder. Combine the two mixes, blending until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack positioned in the center. Lightly grease or paper-line a cookie sheet or baking tray.

Roll out 2 tablespoons of dough between the hands to form a rope about 12 inches long. Form the rope into a pretzel shape, and place on baking sheet. Continue with remaining dough (smaller pretzels may be made by using less dough at a time).

Bake about 10 minutes, or just until pretzels start to color.

Cool on a wire rack.

To make frosting: Beat ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth. If the mixture appears very thick, add milk, a few drops at a time, until thin enough to spread. Spread frosting over cooled pretzels. Return to wire rack until frosting dries. Makes about 2 dozen pretzels.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Food Stuffs: Morsels

Send queries along with name and phone number to:
"By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813.
Or send e-mail to bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.