Easy-to-make Valentine's Day treats

Sometimes, it can be mutually beneficial to take advantage of friends who are easily impressed. My easy-to-make white chocolate covered pretzels are a snack that continually manage to astound people. I get to enjoy my new position as queen of creativity and craft while my friends get to enjoy free candy.

However, I may have allowed my ego to get the better of me. Although I usually resort to just using a microwave to melt the white chocolate (hence the easy factor), I decided to upgrade my white chocolate to double-boiler status. If you've never used a double-boiler before, then this will be as much of an adventure for you as it will be for me.

Ingredients:

• one bag of white chocolate morsels
• one bag classic-style pretzel rods
• one pot
• one mixing bowl that, when placed on top of pot, is large enough to create a seal with the rim of the pot, preferably glass or metal
• spatula
• wax paper
• one sheet pan
• sprinkles
• paper plate

Procedure:

Essentially, a double boiler is like a makeshift fondue pot. Heat water in the pot, but do not bring it to a boil. The goal of this double-boiler process is to have the steam of the water heat the bottom of your mixing bowl, which is why you want to choose a bowl that seals the steam in from the top. So, clearly, I missed the boat with this Pyrex idea.

After a few more failed attempts using a skillet, a sauce pan, and a plate (don't question my motives), I finally landed on this bright blue mixing bowl, which I hoped was microwave-safe. It perfectly sealed in the steam and was deep enough for dipping my pretzel sticks.

Sure enough, after only a few minutes, the morsels were melted into a thick cream. I tried to better distribute the heat by mixing the chocolate with the spatula before going in for the kill.

The bowl wasn't deep enough to accomplish my preferred coverage, so I used the spatula to smooth the chocolate down the pretzel.

After letting the excess drip back into the bowl, I embellished the sticks with some sprinkles, with a plate underneath me, before placing the final pretzel sticks on a sheet pan lined with wax paper.

And, the classy line:

Happy Valentine's Day!