just over a year ago, i made my first visit to the town i now call home. there were obviously many many food-centric emotions, most of which were excited in the i-can't-wait-to-try-hot-dish-and-also-only-have-one-asian-restaurant-to-choose-from way but, some were nervous in the what-will-i-do-when-i'm-bored-and-can't-go-on-a-donut-tour? way.

i will admit that at times i was a little dark because as i rode in on my high pony from brooklyn i had this dumb uninformed idea that i could try all of the foods in grand forks in one week or less. but i soon started discovering all these tasty little secrets! like the most wonderful ribs in the middle of complete nowhere, earth-shattering wings at a dive bar behind this place called the valley dairy (which i think is an equivalent to a corner bodega, but i haven't even been yet!), a kimchi taco, this fantastic gem, and at the most adorable chocolate shop ever in all the land, a chocolate covered pickle.

it was the exact last thing i expected to see at our little town chocolate shop, but look, here's even a vintage instagram of them! for excitement's sake, i had one and got all smiley about it. it was like having the kid-friendly answer to a pickleback, all sweet and soury and pickly. when my mom came to visit, she became obsessed.

so here i am today with a recipe for chocolate covered pickles, in case you live in like brooklyn, or somewhere else where a place to get a chocolate covered pickle isn't that obvious (hah! see what i did there?), and it's paired up with a candied pickle because how fun would that be? a pickle-centric dessert table? i am a little bit tempted to insert a raunchy joke about dipping a pickle in chocolate but today i am g-rated.

chocolate covered pickles

ingredients

1 jar of farmer's garden by vlasic bread and butter chips

8 oz dark chocolate chips

2 tb coconut oil

sprinkles (optional, but strongly preferred)

clues

drain your pickles and place them on a plate or baking sheet lined with parchment. (remove the carrots and red peppers... unless you want to dip those in chocolate too!) freeze your pickles until very cold, for a few hours or overnight.

melt your chocolate with the coconut oil in a double boiler or in a microwave for 30-second increments. remove from heat and let sit for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is no longer hot.

dip the pickles either half way or all the way into the chocolate and place them back on the parchment. sprinkle with sprinkles. serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

candied pickles

ingredients

a heaping cup of farmer's garden by vlasic bread and butter chips

3/4 c sugar

2 tb water

optional for serving: ice cream and other sundae toppings!

clues

in a large saucepan, combine the pickles, sugar, and water. heat over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture begins to turn caramel brown, 20-30 minutes. remove the pickles from the sugar mixture and let them cool on parchment paper.

(any leftover sugar syrup can be poured out onto parchment and left to cool to make pickle infused hard candy!)

serve immediately! over ice cream, perhaps!

-yeh!

this post was sponsored by vlasic's tasty new line of pickles, farmer's garden! all opinions are mine mine mine. these pickles come in super cute farmy jars and there are no artificial flavors in them (yay). they're inspired by pickling pioneer joseph vlasic, who started making pickles 70 years ago! aside from bread and butter chips, they make zesty garlic chips, kosher dill spears, kosher dill halves, and dill chips. to see what other fun things are going on it pickle word, you can follow #farmtojar.

also be sure to enter their sweepstakes: farmer’s garden is celebrating the authentic taste of #farmtojar with the savor simplicity sweepstakes running from 5/7/14 – 7/31/14. enter at www.farmersgardenvlasic.com for a chance to win a weekend cooking adventure or summer entertaining package, each worth $1,500. one winner will be chosen each month. a $1 off coupon will also be given to all entrants immediately following entry!