Christmas/ Dessert/ mini desserts

Pretzel Toffee

20 December 2021 By Aleksandra

Pretzel toffee is a simple Holiday candy that is made with chocolate, crunchy toffee layer, pretzels, walnuts, and flaky salt. It’s so easy to make and tastes amazing! You can make it even a couple of days before Christmas (if you can resist that long!) and you won’t need a candy thermometer.

If you’re looking for more easy Christmas treats, check out this Christmas Bark Recipe (Reindeer Chocolate Bark).

A child's hand is reaching for pretzel toffee in a cookie tin.

Ingredients

Labeled ingredients for pretzel toffee.

You only need just a couple of ingredients to make this delicious treat:

  • Chocolate – make sure to use the best quality chocolate you can afford, it really makes a difference! If you plan on making this dessert ahead I would recommend using baking chocolate – it will look prettier and you won’t see grey discolorations on the chocolate the next day.
  • For the toffee – granulated sugar, vanilla, and butter.
  • Mini pretzels – you can also use saltine crackers which are more traditional for this type of candy.
  • Nuts – are optional but recommended. I used walnuts but pecans would also be great.
  • Flaky sea salt – NOT optional. Flaky salt really brings all these ingredients together and balances the sweetness. You can’t use table or fine sea salt, it just won’t have the same effect. Another option is to buy coarse salt and grind it slightly using a pestle and mortar.
  • Decoration – optional – different toppings: colorful sprinkles, more pretzels, m&m’s, different nuts, crushed cookies, peppermint canes, dried cranberries, peanut butter chips, flaked coconut

Step by step instructions

A collage of 8 photos showing how to make pretzel toffee step by step.

STEP 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Prepare a 9×13-inch rimmed baking sheet or a baking pan, brush it lightly with butter, and line with parchment paper (buttering the pan helps the paper stick to the pan).

Arrange the pretzels in a single layer in the pan.

STEP 2: Add the butter, sugar, and vanilla into a small pot.

STEP 3: Cook over low heat, stirring from time to time, until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved.

Cook for 3 more minutes until the mixture is golden in color and smells like caramel. Be careful to not burn it.

STEP 4: Pour it over the pretzels, they should be covered in caramel but if there are a couple of spots where there’s no caramel, it’s fine, it will even out in the oven.

Put the pan in the oven and bake for 8 minutes, the caramel must be bubbling.

STEP 5: While the caramel is baking, finely chop the chocolate and nuts.

Spread the chocolate over the hot caramel, wait for a minute.

STEP 6: Spread the melted chocolate evenly over the pretzels and caramel. If your chocolate hasn’t melted all the way, you can put the pan for a minute in the warm oven.

STEP 7: Sprinkle the melted chocolate with flaky sea salt, then with the walnuts. Press the walnuts slightly into the chocolate. You can also sprinkle some sprinkles on top.

STEP 8: Put the pan in the fridge until the chocolate is set – this will take about 1 hour.

Crack the chocolate bark into smaller pieces. It tastes best cold, straight from the fridge.

Enjoy!

Storage

It will last about a week in the fridge. It tastes great at room temperature but also cold straight from the fridge. It can also be frozen.

Pretzel toffee with with walnuts in a Christmas tree-shaped cookie tin.

Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!

Pretzel Toffee

Pretzel toffee is a simple Holiday candy that is made with chocolate, crunchy toffee layer, pretzels, walnuts, and flaky salt. It’s so easy to make and tastes amazing! You can make it even a couple of days before Christmas (if you can resist that long!).
Pin This Recipe!
A child's hand is reaching for pretzel toffee in a cookie tin.
Print Recipe

RATE THE RECIPE

(click on the stars)

No ratings yet
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 15 servings
Calories 259kcal
Author Aleksandra

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup (115g) butter
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 80 mini pretzels or enough to cover the bottom of the pan
  • 12 ounces (340g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably baking chocolate
  • 1 cup (100g) roughly chopped walnuts
  • flaky sea salt

Would you like to save this?

We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
  • Prepare a 9×13-inch rimmed baking sheet or a baking pan, brush it lightly with butter, and line with parchment paper (buttering the pan helps the paper stick to the pan).
  • Arrange the pretzels in a single layer in the pan.
  • Add the butter, sugar, and vanilla into a small pot. Cook over low heat, stirring from time to time, until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Cook for 3 more minutes until the mixture is golden in color and smells like caramel. Be careful to not burn it.
  • Pour it over the pretzels, they should be covered in caramel but if there are a couple of spots where there’s no caramel, it’s fine, it will even out in the oven.
  • Put the pan in the oven and bake for 8 minutes, the caramel must be bubbling.
  • While the caramel is baking, finely chop the chocolate and nuts.
  • Spread the chocolate over the hot caramel, wait for a minute then spread the melted chocolate evenly over the pretzels and caramel. If your chocolate hasn’t melted all the way, you can put the pan for a minute in the warm oven.
  • Sprinkle the melted chocolate with flaky sea salt, then with the walnuts. Press the walnuts slightly into the chocolate. You can also sprinkle some sprinkles on top.
  • Put the pan in the fridge until the chocolate is set – this will take about 1 hour.
  • Crack the chocolate bark into smaller pieces. It tastes best cold, straight from the fridge.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

  • Chocolate – make sure to use the best quality chocolate you can afford, it really makes a difference! If you plan on making this dessert ahead I would recommend using baking chocolate – it will look prettier and you won’t see grey discolorations on the chocolate the next day.
  • Calories = 1 serving (1/15 of the recipe). This is only an estimate
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Diet Vegetarian
Tried this Recipe? Rate the Recipe and tell us what you think in the Comments!

You Might Also Like

No Comments

Leave a Reply

Recipe Rating




The maximum upload file size: 1 MB. You can upload: image. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here