Chocolate Chunk Pretzel Love

....or at least that's what I'm calling it since today is Valentine's Day.  (Happy, happy BTW)

This is the snack goodie, we whipped up before we went to a Super Bowl party the other weekend. It's one of my favorite treats. It's sweet, it's salty. You can make it as sinful or as "healthy" as you choose depending upon your choice of ingredients.

For this batch, I used:

(1) full-sized bag of mini pretzels

Half of a cup unpopped popcorn (which will yield a big ol' bowl of air popped corn)

(2) bags of Hershey's Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate Chips

(1) bag miniature marshmallows

Approximately half of a cup red cinnamon heart candy

On the stove top, I melted the chocolate chips and marshmallows over low heat in an 18" oval roasting pan. Once the chocolate chips were fully melted, I kept the roaster on the burner, added the popcorn and pretzels until almost coated and then sprinkled in the cinnamon hearts making sure they were evenly mixed. (I wasn't so concerned about getting the marshmallows completely melted. It was fun to hit a chunk of marshmallow, anyway, during the devouring process.)

Spread the whole mess on a large cookie sheet and find room in your 'fridge for it to cool.  After that you can break it up into pieces and store in a Ziplock bag (preferably in the refrigerator if you are not giving/sharing/inhaling it right away).

You could certainly use true dark chocolate instead of just chocolate chips, add sliced almonds, raisins, peanuts, bits of dried apricots......oh how the list goes on!

Look out, people will be waiting in the wings to snitch this stuff!