trail-mix clusters

have you even been studying or busy working on homework and then realized too late that you promised to take a dessert to a mixer, a club meeting, or another function? well, i have! and whenever i have that "oh crap! i was supposed to do that!" realization, i reach for these little gems. they take no time to make and people freak out over them!

here's what you do... now you can make 'em fast and get back to cramming for finals, and everyone is going to wonder how you can take a 17 hour course load and still manage to be super involved :-)

Ingredients:*

1/2 a package of milk chocolate almond bark (it comes in large bricks; half the package will be about 6 squares)

1/2 bag mini marshmallows

1/2 jar dry roasted peanuts (unsalted)

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup thin pretzel sticks, broken up into pieces (halves or thirds)


Steps:

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in a microwavable bowl according to package instructions**

2. Add the peanuts, raisins, and pretzels, and stir

3. Add the marshmallows and stir until everything is coated in chocolate (add the marshmallows last so the heat of the chocolate will not melt them)

4. Drop the clusters by the spoonful onto wax paper (you can make these as small or large as you want)

5. Let them cool (about 20 minutes) and then enjoy!

* The combination of ingredients in this recipe is definitely interchangeable; everything is good dipped in chocolate!
Some Ideas of ingredients you could use instead of the ones listed:
- dried fruit and peanuts into the chocolate
- banana chips, pretzel thins and marshmallows into the chocolate
- chocolate covered raisins and peanuts into white chocolate almond bark

** You have to work fast with the melted chocolate, because it will harden back up quickly! it might be a good idea to pre-measure the ingredients together in a smaller bowl so you can dump them in at one time. However, it is definitely doable to add the ingredients individually after the chocolate is melted, just pick up the pace!

Time Breakdown:
-Melting the chocolate: 45 seconds- 1 minute
- Adding the ingredients/ stirring: 30 seconds
- Dropping the clusters onto wax paper: 2-3 minutes