Caramel-Filled Pretzel Bites

When it comes to non-staple ingredients in my pantry, I try to not have extras sitting around for a while (with the exception of coconut - since only Mom and Nonni like it, I just leave the bag alone). So a while back I started looking for a recipe to use up the caramel squares I still had from previous recipes. I eventually decided on Caramel-Filled Pretzel Bites from Amy's Healthy Baking. Which sat saved on my bookmarks bar for 6 months or so as I tried to figure out when to make them.

Enter St. Patrick's Day. While trying to decide what snacks I wanted to make for spending half the day in the car, I had a lightbulb moment: why not make the pretzel bites? So I did.

Homemade Pretzel Bites

Last year, after an almost 8-year absence, I finally returned to Irish dance. Coincidentally, it was with the same school that I had been with for my first 7 years; it was just under a different director/teacher as my former teacher/the school's founder had somewhat retired from Irish dance (Amber, the new director/teacher, knows Anne through homeschooling so that's how that happened). The day I returned was St. Patrick's Day, a Thursday, with 3 performances.

Apparently, this was a relaxing day compared to their usual (a lot had changed since I left, apparently; I only remember doing a recital when we went through Kent Parks & Rec). This year was more the norm: a weekend full of performances.

To prepare for a day of driving around from performance to performance, I decided to make some snacks for the road (this was also because I didn't know if/when we would eat lunch nor when we would eat dinner). Because of my continuous pretzel kick, I decided on pretzel bites. I even searched for a spider strainer to easily remove the bites from their boiling water bath as I knew the wooden slotted spoon I had wouldn't be effective (finally found one at Bed Bath & Beyond).