Pretzel Yummies

2 cups walnuts
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup -- light
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
25 pretzel rods -- or one 14-oz package whole Bavarian pretzels

In a food processor, combine walnuts, peanut butter chips, and milk chocolate chips. Cover and process until mixture is coarsely chopped (or coarsely chop nuts, peanut butter, and chocolate pieces with a knife and combine). Transfer to a larger bowl; set aside.

In a small, heavy saucepan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter. Bring to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sweetened condensed milk. Return to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium low. Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 236 degrees F, softball stage, should take about 10 minutes. Adjust heat as necessary to maintain a steady boil. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in vanilla. Cool 15-20 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Dip each pretzel into caramel mixture, covering about two-thirds of the pretzel. Let caramel drip off slightly. Spoon or roll some of the chopped mixture onto the caramel on the pretzel, pressing crumbs lightly with back of a spoon. Let stand on nonstick foil until caramel is set. Store in an airtight container between layers of wax paper in a refrigerator up to 4 days or freeze up to 1 month.

Source:BH & G, December 2003
Yield:25 pretzels

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 265 Calories; 13g Fat (46.8% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 26g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 10mg Cholesterol; 196mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 Fat; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

NOTES : These are very good and quite pretty!
Made way too much chip/nut mixture; use about half of the ingredients for this mixture next time. Let caramel cool only about 10 minutes, instead of 15-20 as the recipe calls for, as the caramel became too thick to dip the pretzels, and had to be reheated. I used peanuts instead of walnuts.