Here’s a fun fact: There are probably as many websites making fun of Pinterest as there are pins on Pinterest. Pinterest Fail, Pinterest You Are Drunk, Pintester, etc. I joined Pinterest so I could post stuff from this blog, but I don’t really need another life-suck, so I mostly keep my addictive personality off that particular website. But Valentine’s Day is a week away, and this “recipe” looked easy and cute, and I’m in a silly mood. And how hard can it be? (Which should be the Pinterest motto, but maybe printed on a wine bottle label or something. Pin-ot Noir? I’m low on puns today too. I just imagine after a couple hours browsing that site and seeing what other people are doing with their lives, be it good or bad, anyone could sure use a drink.
I like to give credit where it’s due, usually, but this little project is everywhere online, so I don’t know who came up with it first. This is not my recipe, I didn’t invent it or think of it. I hope whoever did does not sue me. So here we have a bag of pretzel snaps (don’t get the butter-flavored ones; they taste like ass), two bags of Hershey’s Hugs, and a bag of Valentine-colored M & M’s. We’re going to make adorable crafty little chocolate pretzel treats.
First pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees. Or don’t, frankly. Heating to 200 takes approximately 40 seconds, so it’s not necessary to put too much effort into this first step.
Line a cookie sheet with pretzel snaps. One fun thing about this project is eating as you go – you can’t make these with broken pretzels or cracked M & M’s. You can’t even use the white M & M’s, since they’re look weird on the ivory creme (which is what’s on the hugs, since they can’t legally call it white chocolate. There are very strict laws pertaining to percentages of cocoa fat that goes in chocolate. More laws than are applied to motorcycle helmets, cruise ship captaincy, or Oscar nominated songs it seems.)
Unwrap the hugs. Keep going. Only a few left. It takes for-freaking-ever to unwrap the whole bag. I don’t seem to improve at all, or increase my speed. Know how many hugs are in a bag? I would have guessed around thirty or maybe thirty five. This bag – regular sized, not king- has sixty eight. Whew! Top each pretzel snap with a hug.
Now these go into your oven for 5 to seven minutes. You’ll want to take them out way too soon. Don’t. Prepare a bowl of M & M’s and keep it handy. Eat all the white ones so they don’t get in your way. This will save hours of tedious M & M sorting later.
Take the pan out of the oven and try not to jiggle it too much. At 200 degrees, I barely even need a potholder for this. Carefully place an M & M on each hug and press down, mushing the chocolate and creme into the crevices of the pretzel. This is harder than it looks. Two M & M’s doesn’t work – they swim and slide around, ruining the beautiful swirls.
Ruin several. Realize they are way too close together and will stick together as they cool. Don’t sweat it – they’ll still taste good. Once they cool completely – and I mean completely – carefully lift them out with a small spatula. I didn’t line the pan with foil. My regret is immediate and deep.
Place in an airtight container. I am shocked, dismayed, and delighted that I have well over one hundred twenty treats. There may even be enough to share.
Some turn out adorable:
Some are monstrous and must be eaten immediately before anyone sees them:
Happy Valentine’s Day!
illdothedisheslater 