This recipe is pretty similar to the dark chocolate pretzel hearts I made for Valentine’s Day, but with a few key differences that make it actually a pretty different experience making it.
The recipe is pretty simple; pretzels, melted white chocolate with a bit of food coloring and a flavor extract, and a couple of decorations to make it look more duck-like. The devil is in the details, though.
For one thing, white chocolate is very prone to seizing up. I had to make several small batches to get a couple to go right. If any moisture at all gets into the chocolate, or if the chocolate is overheated, it will seize up. It also cools down very quickly, so you only have a limited amount of time to work before your chocolate is no longer pipe-able.
I chose to add a bit of coconut oil to help keep the white chocolate more pliable. It still sets firm, but it’s a little easier to work with. You don’t need to do this (and you can use an alternative fat like butter if you want) but I found it makes it a lot easier.
For the decorations, I chose to go with a small chocolate sprinkle for the eye, and half of a Reese’s Piece for the bill. Breaking up those candies was a bit of a pain, but you don’t need too many of them, so it’s fine. Plus, you have a bunch of extra bits you can use to top ice cream, work into another dessert, or just eat.
After I made these, I had some other ideas for decorating, but I didn’t want to go back and make more. You could use googly eye sprinkles for the eyes, or just colored icing for details. A deeper orange or a brighter white frosting to pipe a little wing outline could be neat too. I chose to keep it simple either way.
White Chocolate Pretzel Ducks for Easter
Equipment
- Piping Bag
- Double Boiler
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper Or silicone baking mat
- Rubber Spatula
Ingredients
- ½ Cup White Chocolate Chips
- 2 Tsp Coconut Oil
- 1 Dab Yellow Food Coloring Gel Get a type without water in it.
- ¼ Tsp Flavor Extract I used orange and strawberry for different batches. This is optional if you just want white chocolate.
- 15-30 Mini Pretzels How many you use depends on how much chocolate you put in each.
- Reese's Pieces and Sprinkles For decoration.
Instructions
- Set up a piping bag so it's ready to go as soon as your chocolate is ready.
- Cut your Reese's Pieces in half so you have half-circles for beaks.
- Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and arrange your pretzels on it (see the image above for orientation to make ducks.)
- Set up your double boiler over medium-low heat. Add your chocolate, and stir as it melts, pulling on and off the heat to avoid overheating it.
- Once your chocolate is melted, mix in the food coloring and any extract you want to flavor it. Adjust for color and flavor to your tastes.
- Pour your white chocolate into your piping bag and pipe dabs of chocolate in the pretzels to make the duck body.
- Place your cut candy and sprinkles to make beaks and eyes.
- Let your chocolate set, or stick it in the fridge or freezer to speed up setting. Enjoy!