David Owens-Hill

First of all, in case you didn’t know, mini pretzels are sweeping the nation. No, really—they are! All you need to do is Google “Pretzel Treats” and you’ll find quadrillions of recipes for various goodies using miniature pretzels (either square or twists) as a base. Pretzel treats are a really perfect for Christmastime because you can use different colors of sprinkles and candies to decorate them, and they’re easy treat to make with young kids. And the center of all of it is a good ol’ salty pretzel, which always makes anything sweet taste a little bit better.

A couple of days ago, I made a quick batch of turtles using mini pretzels. My good friend Jaden has a version on her website using—wait for it—Rolo candies. (See the recipe here. Fabulous!) But since I didn’t have any Rolos on standby, I just took the old school route and used caramels and melting chocolates.

These would be perfect on a tiered cake stand as part of a holiday buffet…or just wrapped in little cellophane bags and given to friends at Christmas.

Or Valentine’s Day.

Or June 11.

 
All you need are mini pretzels, caramels, pecans (not shown here because I’m a 44-year-old airhead) and some kind of chocolate. I used a mix I’ll tell you about in a minute, but if you have a good candy store nearby, a good milk chocolate would be perfect.

 
 
 
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and lay mini pretzels all over a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a baking mat like this.

 
 
 
Unwrap the caramels, and one by one, set them on the pretzels…

 
 
 
Until they’re all covered!

 
 
 
Now just pop the pan in the oven for about 4 to 5 minutes or so…

 
 
 
Until the caramels have softened but haven’t started melting all over the universe yet. Keep your eye on them!

 
 
 
Now grab some pecan halves. I just got these as a gift, which is one of the things I love about Christmastime. Pecans, pecans, pecans!

 
 
 
Just grab a pecan half and carefully press it onto one of the caramels. Press lightly; you just want the pecan to be secured and the caramel to perfectly fit within the pretzel.

 
 
 
Then just keep on going until they’re all done! Now you just need to let them cool completely, so set them aside…

 
 
 
And start melting the chocolate as they cool! I didn’t have any good milk chocolate for melting, so I wound up grabbing some chocolate almond bark…

 
 
 
Then grabbing some good bittersweet chocolate I had on hand…

 
 
 
And mixing that in. I did this because even though chocolate almond bark is great for melting, the flavor doesn’t really scream “Chocolate.” And that’s probably because it isn’t really chocolate. It’s almond bark. Long story.

 
 
 
So basically, I used the almond bark for “filler” and spiked it with a sharper, good-quality chocolate. But this was sort of a wing-it type of thing; once again, just a good quality milk chocolate would be perfection.

 
 
 
So once the pretzel/caramel/pecan thingies are cool, remove them from the tray.

 
 
 
Then grab a tablespoon of the melted chocolate…

 
 
 
And pour half of it on the tray.

 
 
 
Then just drop one of the pretzels right on top!

 
 
 
That first one was a little bit, because I used closer to a tablespoons…but the second one, at half a tablespoon, was just right.

 
 
 
So just keep going, drizzling several rounds of chocolate at once…

 
 
 
And carefully dropping on the pretzels. They’ll sink naturally into the chocolate, so no need to really press them in. Just make sure they stay centered on the chocolate as they settle.

 
 
 
Then you just need to let them set! You can do this at room temperature, but expect it to take quite awhile. Or, you can hasten it along by putting the turtles in the fridge for 30 minutes or so; just keep in mind that the caramel will be really firm—too firm to chew—when you first pull it out of the fridge.

 
 
 
Now, I did a few of them on a separate baking mat so I could have a little extra fun.

 
 
 
I drizzled more chocolate…

 
 
 
All over the top…

 
 
 
Until it was all coated.

 
 
 
Then I repeated with the rest of them…

 
 
 
And popped ‘em into the fridge to cool! This is just a more substantial version of the other ones and keeps the pretzel and caramel “enclosed” in chocolate. It’s also more in line with the original turtle-style candy!

 
 
 
Either option is just lovely. The only thing I’d change (and I added this in the printable below) is to toast the pecan halves and let them cool before making the candies. I think that would bump up the flavor even more. And as I’ve said approximately four million times already in this post, good milk chocolate is the way to go.

 
 
 
Yay for mini pretzels!

Here’s the handy printable.

Established in 1997 with the merger of three institutions, Novant Health is network of physician clinics, outpatient centers, and hospitals that serves the states of North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. Headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC, it consists of more than 1,100 physicians and 24,000 employees at more than 450 locations and is one of the top 25 integrated health systems in the United States. This month Novant Health introduced a new identity designed by New York, NY-based Prophet.

Sample of old look. Not done by Prophet.

Old family of logos.

As part of the brand launch, Novant Health will adopt a visual identity to signal continuity and approachability to patients who will see the same familiar, reassuring brand across geographies and points of care. The visual identity includes a bold N--reflecting the strength of Novant Health's system and the significant changes it is making in the industry. The N: symbol embodies the concept of a colon that never stands alone. It is always followed by a message--a thought, an explanation, a statement or the start of a dialogue. The identity is rendered in aubergine and charcoal, and the colon forms an H in the negative space. The new logo helps to inspire and connect employees, patients and the community in a forward-thinking healthcare dialogue.
— Prophet press release

Healthcare is rarely an exciting area for identity design but where most projects mistake simplicity for boringness, this identity does manage to be both simple and surprising while maintaining the dignified, serious presence that a healthcare organization demands. The previous logo was excruciatingly bad with all possible bad moves in all the wrong places: bad swoosh, bad serif, bad sans serif, and bad color palette. And the way it was applied was enough to act as an anesthetic. The new logo is a very smart monogram that spells out "NH" but also transforms the negative space of the "H" into a colon, making the monogram more active and engaging. In application, the logo doesn't go crazy, it simply serves as a bold anchor for all the materials and the obligatory soft images of people being healthy. So even though none of this is as exciting as some crazy flexible identity, this is a perfect case study for designing for the healthcare industry by injecting (pun!) just enough creativity to make it memorable while maintaining an approachable yet stern application.

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An interesting, interactive infographic measuring median household income by individual train stop. Inequality and New York's Subway.