Chocolate Dipped Bacon Pretzels

Recently my family and I had the opportunity to explore a fun local farm!  My kids where thrilled to be able to get a behind the scenes tour of a real working farm here in Indiana!  This has probably been one of the highlights of our 2015 summer!  It was so much fun and we loved spending time with the owners and their animals and seeing their crops too!  We learned so much and had a great time.  But what does a farm have to do with Chocolate Dipped Bacon Pretzels!?  Everything!!  Well...at least a little something!  I will explain, but first, check out these amazing Chocolate Dipped Bacon Pretzels!!  And be sure to grab the recipe below!

As part of an Indiana Family of Farmers blog series, I was paired with an agriculture blogger to meet, check out their farm and write about it.  (Thanks IFOF for making this post possible today!)  I was also challenged to share a recipe that has to do with their farm.  One of the things this family does on their farm is raise pigs and so I decided to create a salty, sweet and savory recipe with bacon to share with you today!

Oh-my-yum these chocolate dipped bacon pretzels are delicious!

I will admit that these are highly additive.  The crunchy, salty, chocolaty savor of this delectable dessert will have you wishing you made a few more.

Expect these to go quickly at your home or party, and be sure to stash a few away for yourself too!

Before I share the recipe though, I want to tell you a bit about the farm we visited.

We loved visiting with Jennifer and her family for a few hours.  They taught us so much and we had such a wonderful time touring their farm!

Also, Jennifer is so awesome that she has 2 blogs!  Be sure to go and visit her and follow her over at The Farm Wife Feeds and From My Front Porch.

We ended the day seeing their cows, which they raise mainly for 4H and because they truly enjoy having them!  My kids and I loved seeing them too!

One interesting fact we learned about cows is that if boy and girl twins are born, the girl is unable to reproduce.

This farm is in its 6th generation!  When their kids take over, it will be in its 7th.  They live in a beautiful home that was built sometime around 1840-ish.  I love that this house and farm has been in the family for so long!  What a wonderful legacy to be able to pass on.

They grow Winter Wheat which typically harvests around July 4th.

And they have about 1,000 acres of non-gmo field corn.  Field corn is harvested with a combine in the fall, after it is fully grown and dried up.

They also have a smaller patch of sweet corn they grow for their own personal use.  Yum!

This photo of corn above is obviously not grown all the way.  But what I didn't know is that every kernel of corn has a piece of silk attached to it!

Soy beans are another crop often grown in Indiana and they grow that too!

They took us behind the scenes to see their farm equipment too!  My children and I loved learning about what each machine does!  I thought it was pretty cool that their combine and sprayer both have GPS!

They also farrow pigs!  We learned a lot about pigs and my children even got to hold a newborn piggie!  Oh my goodness he was so adorable!  They typically have about 120 sows (female pig) that they farrow on rotation.  They raise the pigs on their farm for about 5-6 months (or when they are about 300 lbs) at which point they are ready to be sold to a finisher.  The finisher processes it so that it can become the ham, pork and bacon that we buy in our local grocery store.

Overall we learned so much and had a lovely day!  My kids are begging me to ask if we can go back.

And now it is time for me to share this amazing Chocolate Dipped Bacon Pretzels Recipe with you!  Here is what you'll need:

Chocolate Dipped Bacon Pretzels

Ingredients:

• Pretzel Rods
• Bacon
• Chocolate Chips
• Vegetable Oil (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook bacon until it is well done according to your preferred method of cooking.
2. Dab grease off with a paper towel and let cool.
3. Crumble bacon into tiny pieces and set aside.
4. Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe cup or mug on 50% power, for 20 seconds at a time stirring in between.  Add a bit of vegetable oil to the chocolate if desired.  Learn more about how to melt chocolate for dipping HERE.
5. Carefully dip pretzel rod about half way into the chocolate and tap off excess.
6. Sprinkle bacon bits on to the chocolate covered pretzel.
7. Lay pretzel on a piece of wax paper.
8. Place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes until the chocolate is set.

Enjoy!

If you don't plan to eat these right away, I would store them in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator.

These really are so tasty!  It took shear strength and amazing will power to save a few of these for my husband to eat!

Chocolate covered bacon is delicious, but adding the crunch, texture and saltiness of the pretzel takes this up a whole notch in my opinion!

Be sure to take a moment to pin this recipe for later!

You might also enjoy these recipes:

Frozen Mango Lemonade

The Best Ever Baked Chili Dip

Peanut Butter Cheesecake

How to Melt Chocolate