Rolo Pretzel Bites

     Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! I realize both of these sentiments are late in coming, but I still mean them both sincerely. Unfortunately, I didn't get up all the posts I wanted to in December, but that doesn't mean I wasn't putting together tasty goodies! So, although the official "Holiday Season" is over, I will be posting a couple of things that I made as ideas for next year. (Or whenever you have a craving. Who says you can only make this stuff during the holidays?) First on the list are these Rolo Pretzel Bites. I actually called them "Christmas Buttons" because it was cuter, but most people don't know these by that name. What's great about these are that they are extremely versatile. By choosing any color of M&M's you want, you can coordinate colors to a holiday or event. Therefore, they're an all-year-round treat. If you don't like M&M's or are in the mood for something a bit more interesting, replacing the M&M with a pecan is fabulous--it tastes just like a turtle! The candy, not the animal. As pecans are expensive and I don't live near a Sam's Club or Costco, I used M&M's for these "Christmas Buttons" since I wanted to give a nice (but not super-expensive) gift to my coworkers.

Rolo Pretzel Bites

Ingredients

1 bag of Holiday Wreath Pretzels (they're the circles) or the pretzels that look like a checkerboard

100 Rolo pieces (or as many bites as you want to make)

100 M&M's  (or you can put up to three on each bite if you want)

Directions

--Preheat oven to 300 degrees F

--Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper

--Lay out the circle pretzels on the pan

--Put a Rolo inside of each circle. It's okay if they don't fit perfectly, they'll melt inside the pretzel.

--Place Rolo/Pretzel combo in the oven for 3-5 minutes. (It was always 4 minutes for me.) You don't want the Rolo to be completely melted, just enough where you can squish an M&M or pecan easily on top.

--Put an M&M (or pecan) on each bite, working quickly so the Rolo doesn't reharden.

--If you have a freezer large enough, place the pan of finished bites into it so they set more quickly. If you live in a climate with freezing temperature weather (and there's no wind) place the pan outside of your doorstep. If you have neither of these, you'll just have to wait quite a bit longer for the bites to set.

--Once the Rolo on the bites are firm once again, peel the bites off of the parchment paper and enjoy!

Happy Baking!

--H