Puppy Paws

puppy paws

Are these not the cutest thing ever?!?

eddie

Okay, you’re right…THIS is the cutest thing ever.  But in terms of puppy-related desserts for people, Puppy Paws are it.  And the deliciousness-to-difficulty ratio is off the charts.  Three ingredients, 10 minutes, no more skill than unwrapping a piece of candy.

Puppy paws ingredients

Mini-pretzels, Rolo candies, and pecan halves.  That’s it.  Oh, and don’t try to glamorize these little guys.  I tried to one year…expensive chocolate-covered caramels, with “sea salt” and dark chocolate…nowhere NEAR as good.  This is one recipe made for the grocery-store bag brand.

2 puppy paws

Your first step after heating your galley oven to maybe 150 degrees (or turning it off after making your weenie winks or anything else and just using the residual heat) is to unwrap and place a Rolo candy atop each mini-pretzel on an ungreased baking sheet.

Puppy paws ready to bake

This is where I learned that the world’s easiest recipe on land is not necessarily so underway!  Heeled over, these little guys slide all over the place at this stage…they are at least as peripatetic as an actual puppy.  So if you simply must make them at a 20-degree heel, use a rimmed-cookie sheet, and get from this stage to the oven as fast as you can.  Better choice: make them before you leave the anchorage!

melting puppy paws

After about 10 minutes in a 150 degree oven (shorter if hotter, and no higher than 250) they will look like this — structurally intact, but sort of “sweating.”

Puppy paws on sheet

Place a pecan half on top of each candy and use it to squash the candy onto the pretzel.  You are aiming to push the chocolate-caramel through each of the holes, to cover them up.

Puppy paws on sheet 2

Put the cookie sheet somewhere cold to firm them up.  This, too, is easier said than done on a boat underway…no room in the icebox, and if I put them up top, they’re likely to get devoured by the crew post-haste!

Puppy paws finished

These haven’t been chilled yet, but you get the point…little puppy paws underneath, and seriously the most luscious thing you could pop into your mouth after 10 minutes of effort…salty, sweet, rich, crunchy, chewy…and they keep well in a ziploc or tupperware if you can hide it adequately.

springer spaniel in cockpit

A dessert with the Good Sailing Dog Seal of Approval.

 

2 thoughts on “Puppy Paws

  1. Eddie is a very cute dog but I have to be politically correct or Diesel Will not be happy. And yes, the puppy paws are also very cute and sound delicious

    Sent from my Samsung smartphone on AT&T

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