Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

Have you ever heard of salted caramel pretzel bark before? 

I hadn't either, to be quite honest.  It wasn't until one of our lovely readers (Jan L.) shared this mouthwatering treat with me that I realized what I had been missing.

I begged the recipe and a photo from her so that I could share it with you immediately, as I knew you'd be just as keen to try it out as I am. 

Jan was so sweet to share, and even let me know of a few little difficulties she was having with the implementation of the recipe. 

As soon as I got the recipe from her I did a little more research to determine what might be the source of the problems she was having.

The more I learn about this particular recipe, the more I'm dying to make it myself.  I seriously can't wait!

Although Jan calls this candy "salted caramel pretzel bark,"  I'm going to include in the toffee section because it seems more like like a chocolate covered caramel pretzel toffee recipe to me.  

Well, whatever name YOU choose to call it by, I know you're going to call it "Scrumptious!"

How To Make Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

Ingredients Needed:

• 1 cup of butter
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 bag of pretzels (mini sticks, twists, or squares)
• 2 cups of chocolate chips (12 ounce bag)
• coarse sea salt

Step-by-step instructions for making this caramel pretzel toffee recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  (Some recipes call for a 350 degree oven, and that seems to work well, too, so your choice.)
   
   
2. Prepare a tray, cookie sheet, or jelly roll pan by lining it with foil or baking paper (NOT waxed paper).  You may want to butter the foil, too, in order to eliminate the chance of your toffee sticking.
   
   I happen to have a silpat mat, so when I make this recipe, I'll be using it instead.  They work great!
   
   
3. Arrange the pretzels in one layer on your tray and set aside.  (You probably won't use a whole bag, so you can munch on the excess to tide you over till the candy's ready.)  ;)
   
   
4. Melt the butter and sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring regularly to dissolve the all of the sugar and let the mixture caramelize and thicken.
   
   Now, here is where there is some debate.  If you want a more soft and caramel-ly outcome, you don't want to overheat the mixture at this point.  If you want a firmer/harder more toffee-ish outcome, you want to cook the mixture a bit longer and to a higher temperature (around 290 F. is ideal).  You decide, but realistically I don't think you can go wrong unless you out-and-out burn it!
   
   
5. Once you've made your decision and your caramel toffee is just right, pour it over the pretzels as evenly as you can.  Quickly grab a spatula and spread it if necessary to try to make sure all the pretzels are covered.
   
   
6. Pop the tray in the oven for about 5 minutes.  Remove it from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips across the hot toffee caramel.  The heat should melt the chips fairly quickly, but if you want to, just pop it back in the oven for another quick minute and then spread the chocolate sort of evenly across the top.
   
   
7. Sprinkle some coarse sea salt over the top while the chocolate is still warm so that it easily sticks.  Mmmm.
   
   
8. Place the tray in the fridge or freezer to cool and set (It usually takes at least an hour).  Remove the foil/baking paper and cut/break into single serve portions.
   

See!  It's not a difficult recipe at all, and the results are beyond yummy. 

Jan was a bit worried because her bark didn't stay firm when she removed it from the freezer.  I think the reason for that is that she probably cooked the butter and sugar a bit less so that it was more of a sticky caramel rather than a firm toffee. 

Nothing wrong with that!  In fact, some of the similar recipes I saw pretty much indicated that sticky was the correct finished result.  :)  I think I'll cook mine a little bit more to get that firmer consistency. 

Now, promise me this.  If you try this Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark recipe (and let's be serious, you know you want to), please do tell me what you think of it.  I'd love to see your pictures, too! 

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