A couple of years ago we discovered this amazingly easy (and quick) Valentine’s recipe, thanks to one of my sister in laws! (Head here to see how little they were when we made them for the first time!) These Chocolate M&M Pretzel Bites are GREAT to do with kids; mine loved peeling the Hershey Kiss wrappers when they were tiny and they loved doing it again. Side note, I can’t believe they are six and seven, WHY are they so grown!?

Okay, here’s how to make these, seriously it is so dang easy:
-Spread out a bunch of square pretzels on parchment paper on a cookie sheet
-Place unwrapped Hershey kisses on each pretzel
-Put them in a heated oven (170-degrees) for 4-5 minutes until the Kiss is SOFT, not all the way melted
-Press a M&M on each Kiss gently (I love to use the pink and white ones during Valentine’s month, but really you could do Christmas colored ones or just regular!)

I like to put the tray in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to let them get nice and cold, and then I transfer them to a freezer size Ziplock bag. We snack on these days DAYS, and they make GREAT little gifts. Recently I made two batches and took them to our teacher’s lounge at work and if you know us teachers, we LOVE to snack!!

(Fun fact, we made a batch of these and had the oven set at 200 degrees….the M&M would NOT press in to the Kiss and some of them started to crumble! Lesson learned and thank God for GOOGLE because apparently we burned the chocolate! We read that 170-degrees is a great temp, and that’s what we used for two other batches. It worked GREAT. Don’t burn your chocolate!)

Do your kids like to bake with you or help in the kitchen? When we did this I thanked our daughter Reese and she said, “Mom, I’ll always help you. That’s why I’m your daughter.” These kids, Y’all….they bless me beyond measure and I LOVE these sweet memories we create!

PS: If you make these Pretzel Bites, find me on Facebook or Instagram (@ashley_glass on Insta) and mention me in your story or post! I would to see and connect with you there. Happy Valentine’s Day, Friends! Thanks for reading!

xox

Long, long ago, I used to talk about how much I loved to bake and the peace and serenity that it once brought to me. What happened to that Ashley?! On dark and cloudy days I was known to bust out a baking pan, scrounge for whatever ingredients I could find, and whip something up just to have the aroma fill our home. Banana bread used to be the most common because our kids can NEVER go through a bundle of bananas and one or two were bound to turn black and be too soft. Even just last Christmas I was much more in the mood to bake than I currently am; maybe that's because I knew that Christmas break 2016 was the start of my 'Stay at Home Adventure,' and well, that season too has passed.

I just realized that I sound like THE most depressed mother and woman ever as I type--sorry about that! The whole point of this post is to say, "HURRAY! I busted out the baking tools again!!" and I have a really yummy holiday cookie recipe JUST for you! So bear with me, I'm getting to the good stuff now.

Through the multiple baking books that I have, and holiday magazines full of dessert recipes, it was trusty old Google who showed up for me last weekend. "Holiday cookie recipes" is what I searched, and I was brought to delish.com , where there were 80+ photos to look through. What caught my eye was MOSTLY that the recipe included mini M & M's.

My kids hurried to my side, Pierson grabbing a chair and Reese climbing ON the counter. And there were incessant little voices saying, "Can I help?! Is it my turn?! I want to do it!" through this entire process. Somewhere in the middle of their cries I sappily told myself, "Ashley, you'll miss this," so needless to say, I allowed them to help as much as I could :)

These were called 'Christmas Drops' on this website and here are the ingredients you'll need:

2½ c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. unsalted butter
¾ c. granulated sugar
¾ c. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. white chocolate chips
1 c. semisweet or milk chocolate chips
½ c. red and green mini baking bits (M&M's mini baking bits)
**PS: Totally forgot to include the brown sugar in the ingredient shot above, WOOPS. I promise I used it IN the actual recipe**

Baking Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. In a bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and baking bits.
Drop rounded tablespoons of dough 3 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 9 to 10 minutes, or until cookies are browned at edges and no longer wet-looking in centers. Let stand on sheets for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool.

**Just an FYI, I had to soften my butter in the microwave, because I am terrible at planning ahead. And I baked two batches for 10 minutes. They were incredibly soft, golden around the edges, and SO SO SO SO SO delicious.**

Valentine Pretzel Bites (Take Two)

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