Pretzel Wreath & Cranberry Bark?

[missyciccolella]

Has anyone tried making these? If so, do you have any tips, pointers, or ideas to make it better? I hope to try them tomorrow as I want to demo at a show next weekend and was looking for some advise. Thanks!

 

[chefruthie]

I haven't made either one yet, but I've tasted the cranbery bark and it's quite yummy!! I'm going to start doing both of these at my shows starting n Nov. I have to sit down and really go over all the Homemade for the Holidays material. I hope to make them for my family on Monday. Thanks for posting this. I'll be checking on this on alot!!

 

[pampchefrhondab]

I made both this week for my Taste of Home Cooking Show booth. They are really easy!

I melted the bark in the smallest coating tray - melted like a dream, much better then the way it melted in the batter bowl for the cranberry bark!

I just dipped the wreaths and put them on parchment paper in a circle. You have time to work w/them. I drizzled a little extra chocolate around the circle w/a spoon and then sprinkled them. My favorite sprinkles were the thick white ones, looked like frost. I also made some w/the silver drangees (sp?-balls). Not sure if you can find these anymore. Many states aren't selling them because they have real silver in them. They set-up really fast and were very easy to remove from the paper.

I wrapped them in cellophane and tied w/a ribbon in the green color Debi Lilly used in our Holiday Catalog. They were a huge hit at the show and my daughter said to me the next day, "Did you order these!" She didn't realize I had made them they were that pretty. I'm going to make them as gifts this Christmas Season for people in the office.

The cranberry bark is yummy, but very sweet to me! It looked really pretty as well.

 

[missyciccolella]

Thanks for the tips...I'm excited about this b/c my hosts are really pumped up for it! Good to know they are easy, and after tomorrow hopefully I'll have a better handle on them.

 

[Spatch]

I made the cranberry bark today and it tasted wonderful but it didn't look wonderful! Did anyone succeed in making it look like a tree?

 

[MicheleC]

The wreaths are very easy to make. You can't go too slow though or they will set before you can use sprinkles. My 7 and 9 year old kids made about 30 of them for my shows this week and they looked great! Just make sure the first layer is lined up before you start the second one.

I used treat bags from the dollar store and tied them with ribbon. Everyone loved them!

 

[pckelly]

Got any pictures Rhonda?? Looks like you had alot of fun doing them!!

 

[pampchefrhondab]

The wreaths are very easy to make. You can't go too slow though or they will set before you can use sprinkles. My 7 and 9 year old kids made about 30 of them for my shows this week and they looked great! Just make sure the first layer is lined up before you start the second one.

I used treat bags from the dollar store and tied them with ribbon. Everyone loved them!

I had plenty of time to work w/mine, but it probably depends on how warm the chocolate is.

Treat bags is a great idea!

 

[pampchefrhondab]

Got any pictures Rhonda?? Looks like you had alot of fun doing them!!

Oh gosh, no I didn't take any pictures of them. I didn't think about it since there are some in the catalog.

 

[Jilleysue]

I love these homemade for the holidays ideas. This is finally right up my alley. I am not really a cooker and this is more "making". Finally after months and months of getting our office back in order and 5 years of my boyfriend going thru a very hard divorce he is back to work, so I can get my PC business going again. It has been so on again off again and I hate instability. This homemade for the holidays idea is great and easy to get started again. I am doing my own show at the office November something..I think the 8th with aobut 100 employees. My goal is to get bookings. SHOULD BE GREAT. I am excited. Any tips will help. Hope all of you are doing well.
Miss our talks and all the laughs.
Jilleysue

 

[dianevill]

Welcome back, Jill! We've missed you!

I love these ideas, too. I haven't made either the bark or the wreaths, so I have no comments, but just wanted to hijack for a moment to say welcome back!

 

[mpkegley]

My one tip for making the wreath is before you dip pretzels in chocolate, go ahead and lay down the 5 pretzels in the shape and dip them one by one and placing them where they go. I didn't do that for my first one and I had chocolate every where because I had to keep moving the pretzels to the right spot. I hope you understand what I mean! Other than that, they were very easy. I can't wait to make them again.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I love these homemade for the holidays ideas. This is finally right up my alley. I am not really a cooker and this is more "making". Finally after months and months of getting our office back in order and 5 years of my boyfriend going thru a very hard divorce he is back to work, so I can get my PC business going again. It has been so on again off again and I hate instability. This homemade for the holidays idea is great and easy to get started again. I am doing my own show at the office November something..I think the 8th with aobut 100 employees. My goal is to get bookings. SHOULD BE GREAT. I am excited. Any tips will help. Hope all of you are doing well.
Miss our talks and all the laughs.
Jilleysue

Welcome Back Jilleysue! It will be good to have your humor and ALL of your organizational tips active on the site again! :thumbup:

 

[Jilleysue]

I will love to help anyway I can....All I have been doing is organizing.....LOL

 

[Jilleysue]

I learned the neatest tip the other day. Take a large candle holder. Put coffee beans inside and put a candle in the middel for your kitchen...smellls so nice. Looks nice too. Tie a ribbon at the bottom SOOOO PRETTY!

 

[chefmeg]

I have made the pretzel wreath and I used 9 pretzels to make it instead of 5...worked well!
I have an open house type show tonight with a few other vendors and I am really concentrating my efforts on the homemade ideas in hopes of booking them for December-that way I don't have to cook in my demos!:love:

 

[missyciccolella]

My one tip for making the wreath is before you dip pretzels in chocolate, go ahead and lay down the 5 pretzels in the shape and dip them one by one and placing them where they go. I didn't do that for my first one and I had chocolate every where because I had to keep moving the pretzels to the right spot. I hope you understand what I mean! Other than that, they were very easy. I can't wait to make them again.

I tend to be messy so thanks for the tip!

 

[JAE]

Made the cranberry bark, today. It was great, but very small. Everyone would just get a very small sample. BeckyD and I were talking about how to get the pieces to bread big to small so you can shape them like a Christmas tree. Becky came up with the idea to score the bark into the right size pieces right after it's all spread out. I think I'll try that next time.

 

[Jilleysue]

I need help. Next week, I am doing an open house type thing at my work. It will be about 50-75 employees coming in and out. There isn't an oven, so I am going to show the pretzel wreaths...should I already have them made or sample how to make a few. With people coming in and out, I thought I could just have everything set up with the battle bowls set up and the pretzel wreaths...but maybe I could show how to make these items right in the beginning and then just start talking about the items after. I want to make it as easy as possible for about an hour and then take orders. Thoughts?

 

[Jilleysue]

******bump******

 

[dannyzmom]

Hey JS!!
I am thinking -- since you are the queen of stunning displays...set up all the SA pieces you have and use those to display pre-made yummies....fingerfoods...with people coming & going I don't know that you're going to have the time needed with any one person to actually demonstrate how to make something. You may want to have out some fresh broccoli on the Cutting Board w/Measuring Cups and a Food Chopper - let people try that...a few zucchini's with the Julienne Peeler, things like that so people can try out some tools...some food in the Small BB and the Salad Chopper for people to chop the food with...etc

 

[Christ Follower]

How long does the chocolate stay "soft" in the coating trays before starting to harden?

 

[Christ Follower]

Also, I don't have the coating trays yet, do you think I can do the melted chocolate part in a SA medium square instead?

 

[Tara1021]

I think it would work just fine. I just got the stuff to try them out. I'll be back when I'm done!

 

[Jilleysue]

Hey JS!!
I am thinking -- since you are the queen of stunning displays...set up all the SA pieces you have and use those to display pre-made yummies....fingerfoods...with people coming & going I don't know that you're going to have the time needed with any one person to actually demonstrate how to make something. You may want to have out some fresh broccoli on the Cutting Board w/Measuring Cups and a Food Chopper - let people try that...a few zucchini's with the Julienne Peeler, things like that so people can try out some tools...some food in the Small BB and the Salad Chopper for people to chop the food with...etc

Yeah this is what I was thinking. I also want to do the batter bowls and some other things. Just need to figure out what. Veggies are a good idea. Anyone else got easy stuff for that many people. I mean I'll be at work and setting this stuff up after. It is a avery small microwave, so can't really do anything there...just want to make it too look nice.

 

[Tara1021]

Here are pics of the wreaths I just made. I used 2 squares of bark for the 4 wreaths. LOVE THEM!

 

[Christ Follower]

Those look GREAT Tara!

 

[J.Corley]

Tara what are the red balls?

 

[vwpamperedchef]

MARVELOUS TARA!! I can't wait to try!! You've inspired me!! THANKS!

 

[Tara1021]

Tara what are the red balls?

They were just part of the sprinkles. I bought a 4 pack of Holiday sprinkles from Kroger. Each wreath is one of the sets of sprinkles.

 

[pamperedlinda]

Hey Jilley,

This is always a hit, and oh so easy!

Caramel Apple Dip
8 ounce package of Cream Cheese (regular or light)
One 18 ounce tub of Caramel Apple Dip
2 Skor or Heath candy bars
3 Granny Smith Apples

• Soften the Cream Cheese and place it on a SA serving plate. Spread it out a little thinner into whatever shape you like.
• Top with half of the container of Caramel Apple Dip.
• Chop Candy Bars using the Food Chopper. Sprinkle over caramel.
• Cut Apples into wedges using the Crinkle Cutter and place around the dip.
• Enjoy!


Use SA for the dip. I use the small square with the dip and place it diagonally on the med sqaure and put the apples in the corners - or I use the rectangle tray and put the dip in the middle and the apples on either end.

Cut the apples with the crinkle cutter or the apple wedger. Soak them for a few mins in sprite or 7up - this will keep them from turning brown and not change the taste of the apples.

Use either one of the SA spreaders or the new bamboo knife for the apple dip.

 

[Tara1021]

I"m at it again!I decided to package them 2 to a package. This way, there isn't an ugly side if you put them back to back and it seems a little more substantial. I'm going to set this up at my shows this month so people can see different ways to use the coating trays. I never bread anything, so these wouldn't appeal to me, but like this...I like it!

 

[Brandi2007]

Tara, great idea to package them up back to back!

 

[fikibiff]

I would say make some wreaths ahead of time, but have everything set out so that people can see how to make them. I'm assuming there is a microwave. You could also make the 1 minute simple additions/prep bowl cakes throughout the hour. I just did them for my daughter's birthday last night and they were great. I also but a can of frosting into the microwave for a little while so that I could drizzle it over the cakes.

 

[pamperedlinda]

............... You could also make the 1 minute simple additions/prep bowl cakes throughout the hour. ...............

great idea! Ice cream topping works great on these too. Have a buch of plastic spoons and tell everyone not to 'double dip'!

 

[debswork]

I need help. Next week, I am doing an open house type thing at my work. It will be about 50-75 employees coming in and out. There isn't an oven, so I am going to show the pretzel wreaths...should I already have them made or sample how to make a few. With people coming in and out, I thought I could just have everything set up with the battle bowls set up and the pretzel wreaths...but maybe I could show how to make these items right in the beginning and then just start talking about the items after. I want to make it as easy as possible for about an hour and then take orders. Thoughts?

Even a quicker apple dip.

Use our carmel sprinkles 2 tblsp with 1 pkg of cream cheese and spread on square plate and drizzle chocolate zig zag on top.

looks wonderful and elegant and very very simple and yummy.

 

[Jilleysue]

great ideas ladies. I am gona practice this week on stuff. I love the apple dip. I want to just have little things for people to much on. Think it is much more fun. I have a microwave real close to me, so I can keep showing the wreaths...I think that will work

 

[PamperedinAvon]

Can the cranberry bark be made without the rectangular stone? I only have a small bar ban, large bar pan, and large round stone w/ handles (the latter two will not fit in my freezer). Any suggestions? TIA =)

 

[PamperedinAvon]

Anyone? =)

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Anyone? =)

I would think any stone that would fit in your freezer to get cold would work just fine.
Or if you have the rectangle chillzanne server - that would work too.

 

[Jilleysue]

I love these ideas. Awesome

 

[chefkristin]

Now I can't wait to try out the wreaths!!!

Jill it is so good to see you back on here!!!

 

[vwpamperedchef]

I love the wreaths, in fact my MIL wants to order them from me and give them to her office for the holidays. I am so excited!

 

[heat123]

Just made the wreath yesterday and it was soo easy! Very cute looking and got oouuuhhhs and ahhhs from showing it all wrapped in cellephane with ribbon! And then I had extra chocolate so I covered 2 wooden spoons with it and sprinkled with the carmel sprinkles! Yummy looking!

 

[reba515]

for my Hoilday open house I had put on the invite "if your name appeared as a Top Host in any 2007 issue of tasty tidbits be sure to remind me to give you your special gift"
Guess what they are getting !!

 

[pamperedposey]

I saw candy cane (peppermint) bark at Walgreens for .99 cents. I think that would look so pretty on the wreaths. It's white with red speckles. I just wonder if it would melt the same. It looks like they are selling it just to eat as is.

 

[Tara1021]

You could make your own candy cane bark by chopping up candy canes w/ the chopper and adding them to the white bark.