Chocolate Cookie Butter Pretzel Treats

I recently made these delicious treats for an end-of-the-semester party in my gender and religion class.  I chose the cookie butter instead of peanut butter because there were a few people with peanut allergies in my class as well as the fact that I had a jar of cookie butter that I got at a Trader Joe's on a trip to New Jersey a couple of months ago that wasn't getting eaten (I discovered that I didn't like it by itself, okay?).

Note: Not all of them are covered in chocolate because I heated the chocolate 4oz. at a time and accidentally burnt the first two batches of it in the microwave (oops) and I'm too broke to buy more right now (yay college!).  However, 4oz. (1/2 cup) will cover about 10 treats.

Here's what you'll need:

• a cookie sheet
• parchment paper
• however many mini pretzels you want (I used 40 for this)
• a jar of cookie butter
• 8oz. of mini chocolate chips
• some festive-looking cupcake liners (optional, but my mom bought these for me and I thought they were cute.

First, start by lining the cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Then place 20 pretzels on top like so.

Then take some cookie butter and spread it all over the pretzels.  Go ahead and place another one on top of those bad boys.

Heat up the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl for thirty seconds at a time, stirring very well in between until it is completely melted (it should take a total of about 3 minutes).  I cannot stress enough how imperative it is that you need to stir it in between, and not like some weak, half-baked stirring either.  Like you better get in there and mix that stuff up or else you'll have some gross, burnt chocolate on your hands and that's not fun.

Anyway, place one of the treats in the melted chocolate and stir it around, flip it over, basically just make sure it's covered.  Take it out and place it on the pan.  It'll look something like the picture on the right.

Do that for all your treats (or only half of them if you're like me and burnt so much of your chocolate that that's how many you can do).  Let them harden overnight at room temperature or you can speed things up by putting them in a fridge for a few hours.  After they've done that you can put them in the cute little cupcake holders like so or just go ahead and enjoy their deliciousness without all that fancy stuff.

Happy baking!
~xoxo Alex

Romans 14:13-15

For work, I was helping a friend out with a sermon and was reading through the book of Romans when this Scripture caught my eye:

"So stop judging each other.  Instead, this is what you decide: Never put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of your brother or sister.  I know and I'm convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is wrong to eat in itself.  But if someone thinks something is wrong to eat, it becomes wrong for that person.  If your brother or sister is upset by your food, you are no longer walking in love." -Romans 14:13-15, The Common English Bible

Now I could take this passage literally and use it to say, "Don't hate on vegetarians, guys," which I possibly will at a future time in which I'm being berated for not eating meat- I live in the South, it happens a lot- but I think this also has a deeper meaning.

I've seen many Christians use Scripture to back up hatred and prejudice, but prefacing it with "love."  They might think it is right- this is their "food."  But the people that they are being prejudiced against- whether the prejudice is racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, what have you- are hurt and upset by this "food."  This "food" is what has backed up years of discrimination towards these groups of disadvantaged people.  Sure, they might think that what they're doing is right ("because the ACTUAL BIBLE ACTUALLY SAYS SO GUYS!!!") but they are hurting people that have never done anything to them.  They are no longer walking in love.

This is why I wish for all Christians to take a look at their "food."  If what you are consuming is hurting someone else, you are not spreading the love of God.  William Barclay writes in his commentary on the book of Romans, "Christian liberty must never be used in such a way that it injures another's life or conscience."  I think this is important for everyone to take into account.  I have found that many Christians often overstep their boundaries to the point where they hurt other people and then justify their actions by saying that they were doing it in the name of God, and that's not okay.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is this: Being a Christian is super cool, but don't use your beliefs to justify hurting other people.  If whatever it is you're doing is hurting someone else, even if you believe it's right, you might want to take a step back and think about what it really means to be a follower of Jesus.

Oh, and in the future, if you need Scripture to back up being a vegetarian, I highly recommend Romans 14:21.