Christmas Eve is in 3 weeks, but who’s counting?! It has been a busy past few weeks in the kitchen as I’m sure many home bakers can relate. I’ve been baking batch after batch of holiday Christmas cookie recipes and I’ve been dreaming about making other Christmas desserts to share. Every year, I make the classics like Gingerbread Men Cookies, Crinkle Cookies, Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies, Pecan Fingers, and Spritz Cookies.
HOW TO MAKE PRETZEL HUGS
- Spread pretzels out on a baking sheet.
- Unwrap kisses and place 1 on the center of each pretzel square.
- Bake in a 200°F oven for 5-6 minutes.
- Allow chocolate candies to cool before storing in an airtight container.
Pretzel Hugs are made with chocolate kisses and they couldn’t be any easier to make. They are so easy to make that I can whip batch after batch up for office parties, close friends, and family. This year, I picked up a few new chocolate kiss varieties from the grocery stores and tried them in this super easy Christmas dessert recipe.
Chocolate pretzel treats are nothing new. In fact, this time of year, you’ll find pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. I know a lot of gourmet chocolatierS sell their version of chocolate covered pretzels but it’s so easy to make them at home without spending a small fortune or buying and candy with extra corn syrup added in the mix.
PRETZEL HUG CANDY INGREDIENTS
■ PRETZELS: Pretzel snaps that are flat and square works best for this recipe. Be sure to get the original flavor and not garlic butter snaps or any other savory flavors.
■ CHOCOLATE CANDY: I like to use kisses or chocolate hugs with the white chocolate and classic chocolate candy flavors both in each piece. During the Christmas season, stores carry a large variety of flavors that include classic chocolate, cookies and cream, sugar cookie flavor ( I want to try these next!), cherry, mint, peppermint, hot chocolate and so many more.
My aunt first turned me onto these pretzel kisses back when I was in high school. Its been a tradition to include them in our annual Christmas cookie tray every year since. She got the recipe out of a church cookbook so we’re not really sure where this recipe originated from but our family loves it to this day. I’ll be shipping this batch home to family and friends over the holiday season.
The Christmas season is my absolute favorite time to bake. I’m always amazed and blown away when I’m given holiday desserts that I’ve never heard of before. There are millions and millions of Christmas recipes in cookbooks, magazines, blogs, and on the internet. It’s just always fun to see what friends and family bake during the holidays. Plus, it’s always fun to do a cookie swap with friends or church type potlucks this time of year. I never tire of Christmas cookies because they just make me incredibly happy.
This Christmas candy recipe couldn’t be any easier to make. It starts with square pretzels and Hersey kisses. Once the chocolate is warmed in the oven, a chocolate M&M is placed on top. This step allows the chocolate to deflate and bind to the pretzel.
Since Hershey’s came out with new chocolate kiss varieties, I tried a few in this recipe. My favorite is the Hershey’s kiss cherry cordial candy. It’s flavorful, sweet, and tastes amazing with salty pretzels. If you have the opportunity to try new flavors, I highly recommend the mint kisses, peppermint kisses, and cherry cordial kisses. Be sure to read my notes in the recipe card to adjust baking time for the stuffed kisses.
Pretzel Hugs are an easy Christmas snack to make in a pinch. Just 3 ingredients and 15 minutes of your time. Skip the gourmet chocolate dipped pretzel rods and make your own Christmas pretzel shapes with mini chocolate kisses and candy. One bite of these chocolate pretzel hugs and you won’t be able to stop eating them.
For more holiday cookie recipes, try these Pecan Snowballs, Whipped Shortbread Cookies, Gingerbread Thumbprint Cookies, and these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.
CHRISTMAS COOKIE RECIPES TO TRY
- Peanut Butter Blossoms – peanut butter cookies with a chocolate kiss.
- Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies – Buttery almond cookies with strawberry jam in the centers.
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies – Classic chewy chocolate cookies!
- Italian Christmas Cookies – Best flavored Italian sugar cookies
- Gingerbread Thumbprint Cookies – gingerbread cookies with white chocolate centers
- Christmas Pretzel Hugs – Easy 3-ingredient pretzel chocolate candy!
- Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies – Soft lemon cookies with cream cheese.
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies – Peanut butter cookies baked in a mini muffin tin with Reese’s peanut butter cup in the center.
- Chocolate Chip Maraschino Cherry Shortbread Cookies – Classic chocolate chip shortbread cookies with maraschino cherries.
- Pecan Fingers: Addictively rich and flavorful pecan shortbread cookies rolled in powdered sugar. You’ll find these cookies just about everywhere during the Christmas season.
For more Christmas recipes, visit my Christmas section on Swanky Recipes.
Easy Christmas Pretzel Hugs
Ingredients
- 2 (8.5) ounce bags ( 108 pieces total) chocolate hugs SEE NOTES FOR CHOCOLATE VARIETIES
- 108 pretzel snaps don’t use butter snap flavored
- 108 red and green M&M candies 1 large bag
- sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°F.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- Unwrap chocolate hugs or chocolate kiss varieties.
- Line baking sheet with pretzel snaps in even rows.
- Top pretzel snaps with a chocolate candy in the center.
- Bake in oven 5-6 minutes. Candy should still hold its shape. Take sheet pan out and test a kiss by placing an M&M in the center. If chocolate hug easily flattens, they are done. If the chocolate hug doesn't flatten, bake at 30-second intervals but do not over bake.
- Place a chocolate M&M in center of chocolate hugs.
- Allow chocolate to set until firm then store in an airtight container. * If using chocolate stuffed kisses with a filling, see notes.
Notes
- This recipe can easily be halved – Just use 1 (8.5 oz.) bag of chocolate kisses/hugs and pretzels. Yield = 54 pieces
- For this recipe, I used Hershey’s Chocolate Hugs – These are the chocolate kisses with milk chocolate hugged by white creme.
- NOTE – the stuffed kisses, such as the chocolate cherry cordial kisses, and marshmallow cream kisses won’t flatten like the non-stuffed kisses. If you do decide to use them, still melt them to the pretzel then immediately cover with sprinkles once out of the oven. Of course, the stuffed kisses are delicious but be aware they don’t flatten like the hugs in this photo due to the filling. The stuffed kisses may just need additional time baking to allow the filling to soften.
- Other Hershey kiss candies I like to use include the hugs, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, mint, and peppermint.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate and it’s accuracy is not guaranteed to be exact.
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One Response
These are really good! I also make these with ROLOS and top with a pecan.