Jar-Ready Yogurt-Coated Pretzel Bites

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The candy-aisle classic, rebuilt at home with a coating that actually tastes like yogurt: white chocolate cut with real Greek yogurt powder, a whisper of citric acid for tang, and a pinch of salt so it never goes cloying. Two thin coats give you that thick, matte, snappy shell around a crackly mini pretzel. Makes a big jar's worth and keeps for two weeks on the counter.

Ingredients

• 8 oz mini pretzel twists or pretzel snaps (about 4 cups)

• 12 oz good white chocolate (cocoa butter listed, chopped or in wafers)
• 1 tbsp refined coconut oil
• 1/3 cup Greek yogurt powder (freeze-dried yogurt powder)
• 2 tbsp nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/4 tsp citric acid
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/2 tsp clear or regular vanilla extract

• 2 tbsp freeze-dried strawberries, blitzed to powder
• flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Clear counter space and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Set a wire cooling rack over a third sheet if you have one — you will use it for draining the second coat. Everything must be bone dry; a single drop of water will seize the chocolate.
2. Spread the pretzels on a sheet and pick out any broken ones (snack on those). Chill the lined sheets in the freezer for 5 minutes so the first coat sets fast, then pull them out.
3. Sift the Greek yogurt powder, dry milk powder, citric acid, and fine salt together into a small bowl, pressing out any lumps with the back of a spoon. Lumps will not dissolve later, so take the extra 30 seconds.
4. Melt the white chocolate and coconut oil together in a wide, dry, heatproof bowl set over 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring constantly. Pull it off the heat when it reaches 105–110°F on an instant-read thermometer — white chocolate scorches above 115°F and turns grainy. Alternatively microwave at 50% power in 20-second bursts, stirring between each.
5. Whisk the sifted yogurt powder mixture and the vanilla into the melted chocolate until completely smooth and slightly thickened, about 1 minute. The mixture will look like thin frosting and smell distinctly tangy. If it feels too stiff to coat, whisk in coconut oil 1 teaspoon at a time.
6. Let the coating cool, stirring now and then, to 88–90°F. Coating at this temperature sets firm with a clean snap instead of staying soft and streaky.
7. Working in batches of about 15 pretzels, drop them into the bowl, turn gently with a fork until fully cloaked, then lift each one out, tap the fork on the bowl rim twice to shed excess, and set it on the chilled parchment. Space them so they do not touch.
8. Let the first coat set at cool room temperature (65–70°F) for 15 minutes, or 6–8 minutes in the refrigerator, until dry to the touch and no longer shiny.
9. Rewarm the remaining coating to 88–90°F over the water bath if it has thickened, then dip each pretzel a second time for that thick commercial-style shell. Return them to fresh parchment, and while the second coat is still tacky, dust a handful with strawberry powder or a few flakes of sea salt if using.
10. Set the second coat for 20 minutes at cool room temperature, then let the pretzels rest uncovered another 30 minutes so the shell fully hardens and loses its chill. Transfer to a jar with a tight lid and store at cool room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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