chocolate wands

Chocolate
wands are a Gryffindor favorite.  Even Dumbledore has been known to
stash a few candy wands in his desk.  Young witches and wizards can use
them to practice basic spells, then pause for a bite!  For a variety of
wand ‘types’, have crushed cookies, nuts or sprinkles handy as options
to roll freshly-dipped pretzels in. 

For
this batch of wands, I first dipped pretzel rods in melted caramel.** 
I then dipped each one in melted chocolate, and finished with a
dappling of nuts.

For
best results, melt caramel in a tall cylinder and dip pretzels
carefully.  The taller the cylinder, the deeper you can dip the
pretzels. Set freshly-dipped pretzels on parchment-covered cookie sheet
till caramel has set.  Then dip chocolate in the same manner.  Once
chocolate has partially set, roll dipped end in desired topping.

Package a few wands together in cello bags and personalize by tying with ribbon in your house colors.

**Alternatively,
use flat sheets of caramel used in caramel-apple
making.  Each caramel sheet comes sandwiched in parchment paper.  Cut
sheets into strips while still lined with paper.  Then, peel off paper
& wrap strips around end of pretzel
rod.  I've seen caramel sheets in the produce section of several
grocery
stores — but these might be seasonal.

• Cockroach Clusters recipe here.
• Butterbeer recipe here.
• Mini Broomsticks tutorial here.