It’s hard to beat the sweet and salty combination of a chocolate-covered pretzel, which can include tasty additions like crushed cookies, nuts, and candies. However, using melted chocolate can be a messy process, so know that there are a few tools you can use to make your chocolate dipping station mess-free.

To avoid getting chocolate all over your hands and countertop, just stick a toothpick through one of the holes in the pretzel and use it to dip. Since they’re so small, toothpicks won’t take too much chocolate off the pretzel, and they’re also helpful for moving the pretzel from a prep area to a parchment paper-covered baking sheet.

If you don’t have any toothpicks on hand, try using a chopstick or kebab skewer instead, particularly the non-disposable kind, so you can reuse them. You can also use these kitchen items to poke through the holes of the dipped pretzel twist if chocolate happens to get stuck in there in order to achieve a picture-perfect shape.