This year, I decided to dip pretzels with my almost-3-year-old.
Now I do love working with her in the kitchen! But there are a few requirements that must be met if I want the time to be fun AND somewhat productive for both of us.
1) It can't be too hands-on, too many pieces to touch, etc. (I really don't want my friends and family saying "Oh, wow, you made this with your little girl? How precious! Yum!" but thinking, "Did she have to touch every single candy piece? Did she wash her hands? Did she pick her nose after? Or taste test anything during?")
2) It needs to be quick! (We're working with a short attention span, after all. Both her and me.)
3) It needs to be either pretty or nummy. Preferably both!
So dipped pretzels fit the bill!
All you need is a bag of pretzels, some sprinkles, and candy wafers or melting chocolate of some kind. You can even make your own from scratch!
Melt the chocolate. Dip the pretzel. Sprinkle said pretzel with Christmas-y sprinkles before the chocolate dries.
That's it! Usually we see the full pretzel dipped, but we just dipped half of it. Less mess for my pre-schooler. Less touching, etc. I let her dip, shake off the excess, then place it on the aluminum foil to dry.
She was a little unclear about the sprinkling process. She kept thinking that the sprinkles were to fill up the 3 holes in each pretzel. So I did most of the sprinkling. We liked the final taste of the white chocolate the best! The contrast of dark pretzel/light chocolate was pretty, too.
I never saw a child eat so many pretzels in one sitting.
Have you ever been freaked out to eat a homemade-with-love-by-toddlers food gift? What was it, so I don't ever do it? Haha! Did anyone else light on a great preschool kitchen creation this season? I'd love to hear about it.
