Help me with my chocolate layer

[starbucksbrew]

I made a variation on strawberry pretzel salad, but I need help with the chocolate I'm adding. I want a chocolate and pretzel bottom, then I put strawberries in strawberry jello on top, then cool whip. I melted chocolate chips and added some sweetened condensed milk so it wouldn't get too hard in the refrigerator, but it was still pretty hard and difficult to cut. Should I use cream instead and make like a ganache? I don't want it to be like chocolate icing mixed with pretzels, I want it harder than that, but still able to cut it. Thoughts?

[todao]

After you've combined the chocolate with the condensed milk and it's still to difficult to cut at room temperature I'd opt for a ganache. My kitchen has a well worn notebook for making notes on problems like you describe because the ratio of ingredients can be a little tricky in the experimentation stages of recipe development. I might continue working with the mix, diluting it a bit more each time with heated cream, until I got the consistency I wanted. Please let us know what the final formula is.

[starbucksbrew]

Oh that's a good idea - I need to heat whatever I add to the melted chocolate. It hardened up pretty fast using room temp sweetened condensed milk. I'll have to try warmed cream, and a little more of it.