My dad is impossible to shop for, and it doesn’t help that his birthday is within weeks of Father’s Day.  There are a couple goodies that he loves though – pretty much anything with pretzels and peanuts.  This year for Father’s day, I have put together a pretzel, chocolate, peanut, and caramel bark.  Hopefully he will like it…

Ingredients:

• Pretzels
• 10 oz semi-sweet Chocolate
• 6 tbsp Butter + 2 tbsp Butter
• 1 cup roasted and salted Peanuts
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Lay the pretzels out in a single layer over a piece of parchment paper.
2. Melt the chocolate with 2 tbsp of butter.
3. Drizzle the chocolate over the pretzels.
4. Sprinkle the peanuts evenly over the chocolate.
5. Make the caramel:
   1. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, on a medium to high flame, melt the sugar.  Do not stir, but keep an eye on it.  You want to wait until the sugar around the edges of the pan starts to brown.  This usually takes about 3 minutes.
   2. Once the sugar has started to brown around the edges, lightly stir the sugar until it is all melted.
   3. Add the butter a few tbsp at a time.  The sugar will bubble up.
   4. Add the vanilla.
   5. Continue to stir until the butter is fully combined, about another 3 minutes.
   6. Immediately, pour the caramel evenly out on top of the peanuts.
6. Allow the bark to cool for a couple of hours.
7. Use your hands to break apart the bark.