Easy Christmas Baking 101

Christmas baking has been low on my priority this year, but the other day I had the urge to whip up something simple.  If you've spent any time on Pinterest, you've certainly seen various versions of these little treats.  They just looked so easy that I had to give them a whirl.  

First I gathered my 3 ingredients...  waffle pretzels from Superstore, "Hugs", and M&Ms (the mint kind since I already them).

Silas had the tedious job of unwrapping all those hugs and placing them on the pretzels.

Ready to go into the oven...
(Bake at 350 degrees.  3 minutes wasn't long enough, 5 minutes was a little too melty.  So next time I'll do 4 :)

Once the hugs have softened, remove from the oven and place an M&M on each one.  I did this while they were still on the pan.  Then I recommend letting them fully cool off before trying to take them off the pan.  This took awhile (maybe because I let them get too melty in the oven).  Next time I might put the whole pan in the freezer to speed up the chocolate hardening process.

Super simple and quite festive looking.  I started imagining other variations - like a mini peanut butter cup with a Reese's Pieces candy on top... Mmmm.

I'm thinking a handful of these in a cellophane bag might be a great addition to this year's teacher gifts.