Pretzel Chocolate Candies – The Start of our Christmas Cookies

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Each year, my mom and I make different Christmas cookies and exchange them. Most years they last well beyond New Years. Sometimes they do not make it out of the driveway after holiday get-togethers. I remember as a child doing this each holiday and her exchanging them on Christmas Eve with my aunts at our grandparents’ house. Pretzel Chocolate Candies, Peanut butter balls. Peppermint bark. Decorated cut-outs. Fudge. Peanut butter fudge. So many cookies! This year, each week leading up to Christmas, I am going to showcase one of our families’ favorite cookies in a blog. This week is all about Pretzel Chocolate Candies.

YUMMMMMM

Disclosure
Published November 25, 2021
Updated March 25, 2022
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Sweet and Salty Treats

By design, I have a sweet tooth. I like savory foods, but sweet and a hint of salty is literally my favorite snack. Making sweets is never a chore for me. Last night our two oldest, Samuel and Matthew, helped me make pretzel sweets before dinner. With a few purchases of a few varieties of delicious chocolates and pretzels the last time I went grocery shopping, I felt the need to make these yummy treats. It is always difficult though to keep the candy or chocolate unopened in the cabinets and hidden, or safe, before being used.

It is nice having sweets around at the holidays. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s, we actually go through a lot of desserts. I consider it a win when we gain the “Holiday 15”. Maybe… It gives me a reason to exercise; or start to exercise. Or not. This year however, my mom, sister, sister-in-law and I are going to do a fun weight loss challenge. I know myself; I could use an incentive to maybe pass on a few desserts, especially these Pretzel Chocolate Candies.

Cost to make these Pretzels

Compared to most desserts, this one did cost a bit more than expected. That was because I bought the name-brand candies when I saw them at our local ALDI. I could have gone with the off-brand ones and saved a few dollars. Had I done that, I only would have used caramel-filled and regular milk chocolate kisses. By using the Peppermint and Sugar Cookie flavors, it leveled this dessert up! Having more than one variety is great for those who want to have a taste of something different.

Chocolate Kisses $3.25
Hershey’s Sugar Cookie Kisses $3.25
Hershey’s Peppermint Kisses $3.25
Pretzel Circles $1.69
M&Ms $3.75

The total cost of these Pretzel Chocolate Candies was $15.19.
That made a total of 231 pretzels to snack on! That makes each piece cost $0.06. Not bad!

Pretzel Chocolate Candy Recipe

Ingredients

1 bag pretzel circles
1 bag Rolo
Bags of Hershey’s kisses, peppermint and sugar cookie
Plain M&M’s
Parchment Paper
Large Baking Sheets

All you will need.

Directions

1. Firstly, preheat your oven to 225 degrees. Do not have the oven any higher as you will want to SLOWLY melt the chocolate, so it all stays in their own pretzels.
2. Secondly, lay a sheet of parchment paper onto a large baking pan. Just make sure it is parchment paper and not wax paper. Aluminum foil may work; however, I did not try to use that one this time. If you have made these before and used Aluminum foil, let me know if it works well! Might be cheaper as parchment is quite costly in comparison.

Parchment paper on a baking sheet.

3. Thirdly, spread an even layer of pretzel circles on the parchment paper. This is a great step for kids! Trying to see who can load and organize a tray the quickest, or who can get the most pretzels onto the sheet. I found these pretzels at ALDI! They were unbelievably reasonably priced at $1.69 a bag. Check out two different options for buying these special pretzel rings.

Clancy’s Pretzel Rings 16oz $1.69
Pretzels on the parchment paper.

4. Fourthly, unwrap candies you desire, and lay them in the center of the pretzels. This step honestly took the longest as each individual candy had to be unwrapped.

If you are able to find chocolate in bulk that is already unwrapped, go for those and save yourself the agony of unwrapping one, eating one, unwrapping one and placing, unwrapping one and eating it, unwrapping one and placing… Matthew and Samuel sure tried their share of chocolate while we unwrapped for sure!

5. Then place the baking sheet into the oven and cook for 3-5 minutes. The milk chocolate kisses take longer than the ROLO, so keep a watch on your time! For instance, you will want the chocolate kisses to be melted just enough that their tips can be squished down and not staying solid.

Bake!

6. Finally, carefully and slowly remove the pan from the oven and place one M&M in the center of each chocolate; making sure they are melted and not still too solid. Squish the M&M down into the melted chocolate so it all gets onto the pretzel. If you do not have the melted chocolate touching all sides of the pretzel, it could fall out and then you will be sad. It was fun to watch Matthew and Sam having a fun time racing to see who could get more M&Ms onto the chocolates before they got too stiff.

Squish M&M into middles.

7. Let them rest on the parchment paper until completely cooled, around 1-2 hours. The most difficult part of this recipe is waiting for them to cool so you do not burn your mouth on melted chocolate. When they are cooled and no longer melty, but the chocolate is solid, pick up the parchment paper and transfer them to a Tupperware container that has a lid. They will store this way great!

Let rest!!!

That is it! This is literally the most delicious and easy recipe for a quick candy exchange or snack! My favorite are the ones with the ROLO, as chocolate with caramel is my #1 favorite candy. Our kids all had a different favorite.

Sam loved the sugar cookie, Matthew liked the peppermint, Levi liked the sugar cookie and Elliana honestly liked whichever she was given. She was easy to please! Below is a picture of the bag of pretzel rings that I bought from ALDI. They have SO many seasonal items, and just make sure to stock up because at ALDI when an item is gone, you may not see it again for a year.

Have you used Instacart lately? About once a month I use it if we are too busy or if we have a sick kid in the house and we want to keep our germs to family. The fact that you can choose a store, order online and then have them delivered right to your door is just the best. If you have not tried it, here is a code to then receive $10 off!!! Click HERE to give it a try and use the code PURRC348C1 for the discount!!! https://www.instacart.com/store/
Stay tuned for next week when I share another family favorite Holiday dessert recipe!
~Monica

Recipe for Pretzel Chocolate Candy

Ingredients for Pretzel Candies

1 bag pretzel circles
1 bag Rolo
Bags of Hershey’s kisses, peppermint and sugar cookie
Plain M&M’s
Parchment Paper
Large Baking Sheets

Directions for Pretzel Candies

1. Firstly, preheat your oven to 225 degrees.
2. Secondly, lay a sheet of parchment paper onto a large baking pan.
3. Thirdly, spread an even layer of pretzel circles on the parchment paper.
4. Then unwrap the chocolate candies you desire and lay them in the center of the pretzels.
5. Then place the baking sheet into the oven and cook for 3-5 minutes.
6. Finally, remove the pan from the oven and place one M&M in the center of each chocolate, making sure they are melted and not still too solid.
7. Let the Pretzel Chocolate Candies rest on the parchment paper until completely cooled, around 1-2 hours.

Published by Monica's Scratch Kitchen

I have not always had the skills to cook and bake from scratch. As a young wife, I bought every meal frozen or boxed and presented it to my husband with a flourish, believing myself a decadent cook. As our budget shrunk, and our family grew, I looked for ways to stretch our money to nourish our kids with the best for their hungry appetites. Hoping to find recipes and meals that they would love to eat. Through the last 5 years, I have learned so many cooking and baking lessons, and experienced many wins and failures. Come along with me on this journey as I share my recipes that work, how to make them on the cheap, and my tips and tricks to get my kids to eat homemade deliciousness! I will also share updates to our house that we have done in the last year since our move. With one income, we do most of the work ourselves and with amazing family and friends to help out, cutting costs but keeping style and money in the bank! I am a wife and mother of 3 boys and 1 princess. When I was a kid, I remember being asked what I wanted to be or do when I grew up. My response was, "a mom", and I am proud to grow up and be a mom to 4 amazing kids! Samuel is 11, Matthew is 8, Levi is 4, and Elliana is almost 2. We have been blessed to have kids who love to explore foods, to try new recipes, and enjoy helping us around the house. With 4 kids, you better believe they help clean! My husband Tyler and I have been married almost 13 years. We love our kids, we love outdoors, camping, canoeing, grilling, watching movies, and just hanging out making memories. A few years ago I gifted Tyler with his own "menu" book, where we write meals and foods we have loved to eat. Weekly our family decides what our meals will be and I make up a grocery list with what we need. It literally is my favorite chore! I love to shop, so shopping for food on a budget is my biggest win! Thank you for taking the time and visiting my site, Subscribe so you do not miss a post! Keep coming back to hear about new recipes, updates on our home, fun times with our kids, and how to make homemade deliciousness! ~Monica

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