Ritzies - A Christmas Tradition

Day 17 on our Advent calendar was to enjoy Ritzies so I decided to share this simple "recipe" with you in case you need a quick, tasty treat to snack on or give as gifts. Mom made these many times when I was growing up and I thought everyone had heard of them but apparently I was wrong, so here you go:

You only need three ingredients, 4 if you want to get festive:
Ritz crackers
chocolate almond bark
peanut butter
sprinkles are optional but very festive!

First, line a baking sheet with wax paper. It makes clean up a cinch. Then make little peanut butter sandwiches with your cracker, peanut butter, cracker.





Once they're all assembled, melt some almond bark. I used a little dish and put two cubes in at a time. A lot of people use a double broiler, but that's more mess and more dishes to clean so just microwave it. I do it for 30 second incriments, stirring between each until it's all melted.

While you're waiting for your chocolate to melt, grab a plastic fork. You are going to be amazed at this next tip so brace yourself.

Break the middle two tines off. Now you have your own fancy, chocolate dipper!



Back to the ritzies. Put a sandwich in the melted chocolate to coat one side.



Flip it over with your fancy dipping tool to coat the other side. Then scoop it up and tap a few times on the side of your dish to shake off some of that excess chocolate. It also makes the tops look all neat and tidy.



Lay it on your wax paper and repeat with the remaining sandwiches.

If you want to add sprinkles, just remember to sprinkle them before the chocolate sets. I made about 10 at a time, sprinkled, did 10 more, sprinkled and so on.



To make about 30 ritzies, I used 2 sleeves of ritz crackers, about 6 cubes almond bark and I have no clue how much peanut butter and it took about 30 minutes.

After you dip all your sandwiches, put the baking sheet in the fridge for about 5 minutes to set the chocolate then they are ready to eat.



These make cute, easy treats to give as gifts too.