Chocolate Fudge with Pretzels

I can’t believe that I completely forgot about Monday Treat Day last week.  Will you ever forgive me? My mind has just been somewhere else…  hard to believe, I know, when there are things like pretzel fudge to be made.  But don’t worry, this bad boy is worth the wait. 

I’ve never been a huge fan of fudge.  Too much of the time it’s overly sweet and grainy.  So most of the time, I’d rather just have a good old piece of chocolate.  But then I was leafing through one of those little Everyday Food magazines that I get in the mail, and always mark recipes in, but never seem to use, and this little gem was on the very last page.  Feeling ambitious, I decided I had to make this RIGHT NOW.  I even left the house again to go to the store and get pretzels… don’t laugh, after getting home from a long day of work, this is kind of a big deal.  Of course, by the time I got back from the store with the bag of pretzels, the last thing I wanted to do was make fudge.  But I soldiered through and I’m very glad I did.  Because now I have this Pretzel fudge in the house.

I don’t think I really have to tell you what this tastes like… it’s fudge with pretzels in it.  But the fudge itself it actually really delicious- sweet, but not too sweet, and not at all grainy.  The pretzels add that salty-crunchy thing that I go ga-ga over.  Your basic dream-come-true.

Chocolate Fudge with Pretzels

adapted from Everyday Food

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoons fine sea salt

2 1/2 cups roughly chopped mini pretzels

Coat and 8 inch square baking pan with cooking spray and line with 2 sheets of parchment paper, leaving a  little bit of an over hang on each side.

Place the butter, chocolate chips, condensed milk, vanilla, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water. (Hint: the water should NOT be touching the bottom of the bowl.) Stir occasionally until chocolate just melts and mixture is combined and warm but not hot, about 8-10 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in 2 cups of the chopped pretzels.  Transfer mixture to pan and smooth the top.  Press the remaining 1/2 cup pretzels on top. Refrigerate until set, 2 hours or overnight.  Using the parchment, lift fudge from pan and cut into 36 squares.