Christmas time means belly-buttons! We've been making these for years and they're a really good kids-can-help project. And, they're SO tasty when they're done :-)
1.Start with some Hershey Kisses. Almost always on sale around this time :-)
2.Employ a small child to unwrap the kisses. Ella chose to wear gloves "just in case" she had germs (they were later abandoned once she realized her dexterity was minimalized).
3.Try to move quickly to the next step before the bowl of kisses empties as people mill around and distract you while sneaking your chocolate out of the bowl.
4.The small child can be put to work again spreading out square-shaped pretzel snaps (or round ones if you can find them, they tend to elude me in the stores lately). Then place 1 kiss in the center of each pretzel. Use an oven safe container with sides (they slide off too easily on a baking sheet sans edges).
5.Bake the kiss/pretzels at 200 degrees for 5-8 minutes. When they're ready they'll be shiny and soft enough to easily press an MnM into it. DO not let them cook too long. If they're burnt they'll start to crack and get hard and smell really bad (can you tell I've made this mistake in years past?)
6.Gather some MnM's. Peanut are the ones I originally learned to make them with but do whatever you like. This year I tried Peanut Butter along with some Peanut and Chris loved 'em. I prefer the crunch of the peanut but, to each his own :-)
7.Carefully press MnMs into the softened chocolate! Let them cool and enjoy the sweet, chocolatey, salty, crunchy, smooth goodness. Mmmmmm.
