Crack Pretzels

Step up your snack game with pretzels and pecans covered with a crispy caramel coating that is addicting!  You will be asked back when you bring these crack pretzels as a hostess gift for sure!

Crack Pretzel Recipes

The holidays are here and that means crazy schedules and gift-giving. Like everyone, you are probably stressed to your maximum and can’t handle one more thing on your to-do list.

Every year I want to plan ahead and have the perfect holiday season and then I wake up on December 15th and still have no tree, no gifts bought, no pounds lost, a room full of dirty laundry, and unwashed hair.  Every Freaking Year!

This year in my blogging journey, I have definitely made strides in my goal-setting and planning ahead. I actually had blog recipes planned a month in advance (even though I only had the recipe scribbled out on a sketch pad and a note on my editorial calendar that I want to post it-still progress) and started to feel a little extra breathing room!

A lot of that also comes from not trying to do it all, taking a step back and prioritizing my time, and not getting sucked into all these unobtainable ideas of perfection that go with being a wife and mom.

One way to do this is to do a little at a time. Having a few make-ahead Christmas treats in recipe box really helps too.

I did get a few days advance notice on this unplanned task but I can whip it up the night before because these Crack Pretzels are:

1. Easy to make and don’t require too many ingredients
2. You can make enough of them in one batch.
3. I can make them a few days ahead of time and they will hold for up to a week with proper storage.

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Ingredients Needed

• pretzels
• pecan halves
• butter
• light brown sugar
• salt
• vanilla
• baking soda

How to Make Crack Pretzels

First: Preheat oven to 250F. Mix the pretzels and the pecans in a large glass or metal bowl. Do not use plastic!

Second: In a medium saucepan, add the butter and sugar. Bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from burner and add the salt, vanilla, and baking soda. When you add the baking soda, it will foam up and bubble so be very careful. Stir to settle and mix.

Third: Pour over the pretzel and pecans and stir quickly. The sugar coating will start to harden fast. Once it is mixed, pour onto a jelly roll pan or baking sheet and spread out.

Fourth: Bake at 250F for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.Remove from oven and cool completely. Store in gift jars or other another air-tight container until ready to give away. Or eat yourself.

For the full recipe and detailed instructions, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Edible Gifts

My go-to edible gift is Crack Pretzels. Last Christmas, I made a Crack Chex Mix that turned out to be a big hit! It’s the usual snack mix but with an addicting crispy caramel coating much like caramel corn.

This year, inspired by my son’s addiction to pretzels, I switched up the snack mix part. Total win!

I knew I wanted to make these Crack Pretzels for the teachers because as an easy Christmas baking recipe, it also makes a large amount so I could get away with making one batch. Even better win!

Check out all these edible gifts to give this holiday season!

For more insider tips, tricks, and a behind the scenes look, follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, & X.

Can I use a different nut than peanuts?

Yes, but I am a sucker for pecans so I use them the most.

Can I use another shape of pretzels?

Sure! I don’t think you will get as much of the caramel coating sticking to them as the twists due to less surface area for it to cling to.

How long do they last?

If they don’t get eaten, they will last about a week before they start to get soggy.

What about the extra caramel coating?

I scrape it off and use the crispy buttery crumbs for topping my ice cream, yogurt, or just licking off my fingers!

Another great thing I love about these Crack Pretzels is it leaves you a little surprise you get at the bottom of the pan after baking them.

The caramel coating sometimes chips off the pretzels when you stir it leaving little bits of crispy caramel sugar in the pan.

After cooking, I gather up the pretzels and pecans and there is about a 1/2 cup of these wonderful little crunchies.

These crunchies are great on:

• sprinkled on ice cream
• stirred in coffee
• or by the spoonful

All it takes is 15 minutes of prep and an hour in the oven while you are doing laundry or decorating the tree. After an hour you will have a large batch of edible heaven you can use for gifts or snacking while watching your favorite holiday movie.

If you love this recipe as much as I do, please leave us a five-star review in the comment section below. Thanks!

These Crack Pretzels with Pecans are the perfect gourmet food gift. Dress them up in a decorative mason jar and skip the wrapping paper.

Crack Pretzels with Crispy Caramel and Pecans

Step up your snack game with pretzels and pecans covered with a crispy caramel coating that is addicting!  You will be asked back when you bring these crack pretzels as a hostess gift for sure!

5 from 9 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Snacks to Share

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 servings

Author: Jennifer Stewart

Ingredients

For the snack mix

• 6 cups twisty pretzels
• 2 cups pecan halves

For crispy crack coating

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

Prepare the snack mix

• Preheat oven to 250F.
• Mix the pretzels and the pecans in a large glass or metal bowl. Do not use plastic!

Create the crack coating

• In a medium saucepan, add the butter and sugar.
• Bring to a boil.
• Boil for 5 minutes.
• Remove from burner and add the salt, vanilla, and baking soda.  When you add the baking soda, it will foam up and bubble so be very careful.
• Stir to settle and mix.

Coat the crack pretzels

• Pour over the pretzel and pecans and stir quickly. The sugar coating will start to harden fast.
• Once it is mixed, pour onto a jelly roll pan or baking sheet and spread out.

Bake the crack pretzels

• Bake at 250F for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.
• Remove from oven and cool completely.
• Store in gift jars or other another air-tight container until ready to give away. Or eat yourself.

Notes

*If you like this recipe, please leave me a comment and rate it with some stars.  Thank you!

Nutrition

Serving: 1 | Calories: 468kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 16g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 669mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 31g

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BigLotsHoliday#CollectiveBias

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