Good morning, Dubbers! After a slow start offensively against Akron, the boys will look to make that week 2 jump on Saturday as they take on the Broncos of WMU. They seemed to figure things out as the game wore on against the Zips, and hopefully this week things will be clicking from the get-go. Defensively, just keep doing what you’re doing! Having the defense outscore the opponent each week seems like a recipe for success. And speaking of recipes, this week we have a simple but tasty sweet treat:

Salted Chocolate and Caramel Pretzel Bars

These wonderful treats are super easy to make and only require 4 ingredients. As someone with a pretty big sweet tooth, these hit the spot after an afternoon of feasting on all the savory dips, smoked meats, and sides TGF has given us over the years.

Ingredients

• 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 8 oz mini pretzel twists (half a regular sized bag)
• 11 oz bag of caramel, or use homemade caramel (I recommend the recipe found in this past edition of TGF)
• Sea salt

Directions

1. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Melt 8 oz of the chocolate chips gently in the microwave. Use low power (I went about 40%), stirring every 20-30 seconds.
3. Once the chocolate is completely melted, pour it on the parchment paper and spread it evenly with a spatula. 
4. Immediately add the pretzels into the spread-out chocolate base and gently press them into the chocolate. It’s ok that the pretzels overlap. 
5. Put the caramel in a bowl with 2 Tbsp of water and microwave on high for 2 minutes, or until all the caramel is melted down. Stir well and pour the melted caramel over the top of all the pretzels.
6. Melt the remaining 4 oz of chocolate and drizzle over the caramel.
7. Sprinkle with sea salt.
8. Refrigerate until hardened.
9. Cut or tear into pieces and enjoy!

Pro Tips

• Get some good quality chocolate chips. Ghirardelli has worked great for me.
• For a heavier chocolate taste, make the base layer thicker. To reduce the chocolate taste, spread out the base layer more.
• Look for the Kraft Caramel Bits, which can be found in the baking section of the grocery. That way you aren’t having to unwrap 50 tiny pieces of caramel.
• Following the recipe as laid out above yielded a finished product that was about the size of a sheet of paper (8.5” x 11”). Doubling the recipe just about filled up my 13” x 18” baking sheet.
• I recommend making it the night before so it has plenty of time to harden in the refrigerator.

As always, you can check out past TGF posts here, or download my TGF doc that has all the recipes of the past 9 years. Go Bucks, and hook ‘em, Horns!