And to celebrate, a recipe to help use up all that leftover candy. Or at least some of it ;) These things are the easiest treats to make ever. And I do mean ever! And one of the other perks is that they are relatively customizable. You can adjust the candy on top to reflect whatever holiday is approaching; I first tried these at a friend's house at Christmas time, with red and green M&Ms on top. And it doesn't really matter if the chocolates are Hugs or Kisses, either. However you adjust them, it's a nice easy treat which satisfies both salty and sweet tastes.
Pretzel Kiss Treats
(Feel free to provide a cuter name if you've got one)
Ingredients & Supplies:
- Mini pretzels (you can use the mini twist or round pretzels, but I like the square ones - aesthetics!)
- Chocolate drop-type candies (Hugs or Kisses)
- Candy for topping - most variations of this recipe call for M&Ms, which make it very easy to color coordinate with holidays or parties. For this batch, I used what M&Ms calls their "Candy Corn M&Ms" - white chocolate candies with candy corn colored shells. The white chocolate goes very well with the white chocolate Hugs, I think. I've seen variations that use other candies though - like this one using candy corn.
- Cookie sheet
- Oven
- Foil or parchment or wax paper (optional)
Directions
1. Preheat oven. It honestly doesn't matter to what temperature. Looking up directions online, I've seen anywhere from 170 degrees F to 400 degrees F. The oven just needs to be hot. I personally made this batch after baking a batch of muffins. I just finished the muffins, turned off the oven, then made these using the warm oven.
2. Line baking sheet with foil or parchment/wax paper. If you forget this step, it's not critical, but it does make it easier to remove from the tray.
3. Arrange pretzels on tray in a single layer. Unwrap Hugs and place one on each pretzel.
4. Put baking sheet in oven for about 3 minutes, just until chocolate start to get soft. You can tell because the chocolate will start to look shiny. I've seen it noted too, that the older the chocolate, the longer it will take. Still won't take too long, even with older chocolate - no more than 5 minutes, so keep an eye on it.
5. Take baking sheet out of oven and smoosh down each Hug very gently with a candy. You want to move pretty quickly, so that the chocolate doesn't start to cool and harden before they all get their top piece smooshed in.
6. Let cool. Putting them in the refrigerator when they've started to set does help speed up the cooling. Just 10-20 minutes in the fridge, and they'll be nice and firmly set. Transfer to serving bowl or an airtight container (or just eat them straight away!). Store them in an airtight container, though. Supposedly they'll last up to 2 weeks, but that's only if they aren't eaten first!
Notes and References
- Several versions of the recipe point out that the Hugs will melt faster than the Kisses, which makes sense because of the white chocolate. Parrot Head Momma on Food.com suggests that if you're making these with both Hugs and Kisses, do each batch on a separate tray - Hugs, then Kisses (or vice versa, it doesn't really matter). Then you won't have one melting faster than the other. Good tip!
- Nancy's Kitchen has another variation, using nuts on the top instead of M&Ms.
- Along the lines of the chocolate and nuts, Glorious Treats has a mini-turtle version of the treat - use Rolo candies (chocolate and caramel) instead of the Kisses or Hugs, and then top with pecan halves. Looks delicious!
- The Hershey Kisses website has a similar treat, using marshmallows - mini s'mores!
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