Last-Minute Super Bowl Ideas

So, today's the big day. Today, two historic teams will meet on a neutral site and battle it out to decide who will ultimately win the coveted Lombardi trophy! It's also a great time to get together with family and friends, to drink and be merry, and of course, to eat good food.

Perhaps you're lazy, like me, and are planning to go to the store today, and you know, throw something together last minute. Good ideas include nachos and dip, stromboli bites, bacon-wrapped hotdogs, chicken wings, chili, or ahem, Papa John's (you know what my choice will be!). Well, here is a colorful, fun, and tasty snack/dessert that can be made in about five minutes: chocolate-covered pretzels!

Last post, I was talking about that savory combination of sweet and salty that is so delectable, but I kind of advised against the chocolate-bacon thing (at least, not semi-sweet chocolate. Read and check it out!) Consider this a tamer version of that, where you still get a rich, complicated flavor, but it's much more balanced out.

What I also like is, if you're trying to watch your weight or caloric intake, this snack is a pretty safe choice, as Super Bowl snacks go. About 20 mini Snyders pretzels equals 110 calories, and I believe about 9 Hershey's kisses equals 125 calories. These are a guilt-free option that might be low in nutrition but, yay!, they're also low in calories. They're also kind of addicting. Josh and I polished off our batch in about an hour.

Chocolate-covered pretzels are classic, and this recipe is just one of many takes on it. This recipe requires only three ingredients (yes, those are Hershey's kisses and M&Ms!)

Chocolate-Covered Pretzels
You Need:

1 bag Hershey's kisses
1 bag M&Ms
a loooot of pretzels (okay, I'm exaggerating. You probably need a bag. I think the checkerboard ones work best, but you can pick and choose!)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. On a greased cooking sheet, spread out all of your pretzels.
3. Place a kiss on top of each pretzel. Bake for 1-3 minutes, until kiss is slightly melted.
4. Take out of oven and place an M&M on top of the kiss. Cool in the refrigerator.

Some pretzel decorating ideas:

To really make your pretzels unique and interesting, you can sub the kisses for Hershey's Hugs (it looks like zebra-print a little), for another mini chocolate bar (I think a Reese's or 3 Musketeers would be fabulous!), white chocolate, or a caramel candy (it would taste something like a turtle then).

You can also use, for example, sprinkles or peanuts, instead of M&Ms on top. Or (I love this idea!) you can choose to customize the M&M colors to your team (I think WalMart now carries those custom colored M&Ms. It's a little easier to do Green Bay if you're not super picky about the shade of green; you can just pick the colors from a regular MM bag and eat all of the other colors. I'm kind of weird, and make it a personal mission to eat all of the orange M&Ms first. I know it sounds crazy; maybe it's the Tiger coming out in me (shameless Clemson plug! Go Tigers!)

You can also use these tasty bites to surround another dessert, like a cake or pie (just set them on the serving dish around it) for a pop of color. There are so many different things you can do, which is why I'm recommending this as a dessert/snack not just for the Super Bowl, but for every day as well (I bet they'd be great to pack in lunch boxes!)

I absolutely love chocolate-covered... everything (except, apparently, bacon). I think this runs in the family, because my cousin is an extremely talented chocolate-covering artist (sorry Bridget, I don't know what to call it!). The things she makes are really pretty and creative, and I hope, hope, hope I can get her to come on here and show it off in the future! But anyway, here's another chocolate-covering idea for the Super Bowl (I got this idea from my Senior Prom, where we had a chocolate fountain.)

You can purchase dipping chocolate (or white chocolate or caramel) at the grocery store (you'll probably have to get a few packages), as well as an assortment of dippers. The dippers can be anything from the sweet (cheesecake cubes, brownie bits, rice krispy treats, marshmallows) to the salty (potato chips, pretzels) to healthier options (strawberries, pineapples, apples, graham crackers). Just set them all out (put the chocolate in the slow cooker, if you want, to keep it at an appropriate temperature the whole game) for a unique and interactive dessert! I really like this idea a lot. Go crazy! And may the best team win!

Maybe not this crazy. But seriously, you can purchase a chocolate fountain for around $30 dollars or rent one! Image from sakida.com.