A sweet and salty treat that is festive and fun for the holidays, Christmas Pretzel hugs might just be the perfect snack.
There is something about the combination of sweet and salty that makes a treat irresistible. The two elements play off of each other to make the perfect overall flavor, and a snack that you won’t be able to stop eating.
Christmas Pretzel Hugs are a no-brainer when it comes to a cookie tray filler or a shareable treat for the office. They take all of five minutes to make with a quick trip to the oven, and only require 3 ingredients.
One of those ingredients is Hershey’s Hugs, which are a super delicious candy. They are milk chocolate in the center, surrounded by a striped white chocolate layer. The best of both worlds!
Add these simple bites to your holiday dessert round-up, along with Christmas Crack, and Christmas Popcorn.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No Baking Required: You’ve done enough holiday baking! These technically go into the oven to melt for a few minutes, but I’d hardly call it baking.
- Three Ingredients: The best kind of recipes can be thrown together in a flash. This one is one of them, with just three ingredients that are easily found at the grocery store.
- Sweet and Salty Combo: Some of the best snacks have both sweet and salty aspects. The pretzels work so well with the chocolate in these pretzel hugs.
Key Ingredients
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Square Pretzels. Sometimes these are called snaps or waffle pretzels. Be sure not to use the butter flavored snaps, they don’t work well here, the butter flavor is a bit too overpowering.
- Hershey’s Hugs. These swirled white and milk chocolate kisses are yummy on their own, but even better when melted into this holiday treat.
- Holiday M&Ms. Red and green M&Ms are traditional. Without them these would just be pretzel hugs, and we want Christmas Pretzel Hugs!
How to Make Christmas Pretzel Hugs
Don’t blink, or you might miss it! These Christmas pretzels only take 5 minutes to make.
- Prepare: Preheat the oven 200°F/95°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a non-stick silicone mat.
- Arrange Ingredients: Set the pretzels on the baking sheet in a single layer. Top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hershey’s Hug.
- Bake: Bake for 4 minutes until the chocolate is shiny and soft, but not totally melted.
- Finish: Remove from the oven, and top each with an M&M, pressing down gently to spread the chocolate.
- Cool: Allow to set at room temperature overnight, or in the fridge or freezer for 30-60 minutes.
Recipe Tips
Make More! We’re doing a small batch here, just 32 pieces, which fit perfectly on a quarter sheet pan like I used in these images. You can (and should, if you want) double this recipe to make more. A bag of Hershey’s Hugs should have about 75 pieces in it, so you can double this recipe and still have a handful of candy to enjoy!
Don’t Bake too Long: The chocolate should be soft, but not melted into a puddle when you take it out of the oven.
Rotate the Pan: Your oven may have hot and cool spots, that’s totally normal. If you know that yours does, be sure to rotate the tray after two minutes so that the whole thing heats evenly.
Christmas Hug Variations
The pretzel with a chocolate kiss and M&M combination is the traditional favorite, but you can get creative and change things up a bit if you like.
Use different Hershey Kisses: Try regular milk chocolate, or one of the holiday flavors. I think Candy Cane Kisses would be delicious.
Use a different candy altogether: Pretzels with chocolate are always good, so change up the type. Rolos, Miniature Reese’s cups, or leftover Halloween chocolate candy are great options.
Switch up the Pretzels: I find that the square snaps work the best for this recipe, but miniature twists or even ring or stars pretzels will work too.
Recipe FAQs
Of course, you can. Use any small shape if you can’t find squares.
If kept in an airtight container, these should stay fresh for several weeks. I’m not exactly sure, they don’t last very long at my house!
A bunch of these adorable Christmas treats wrapped up nicely makes a wonderful edible gift. Make pretzel hugs for teachers, coworkers, or neighbors this year.
If you like this chocolate pretzel Christmas dessert, you should make these Christmas Tree Pretzels too. I’m wishing you a wonderful holiday season, and I hope you get to make all the sweets that you want!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Christmas Pretzel Hugs
Equipment
- Quarter size cookie sheet
Ingredients
- 32 square pretzels not butter snaps
- 32 Hershey’s hugs
- 32 M&M’s in Christmas colors
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°F/95°C.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone mat.
- Arrange pretzels on the baking sheet, and top each pretzel with an unwrapped hershey’s hug. And bake for about 4 minutes until the chocolate is shiny but not melted.
- Remove from the oven, and top with M&M’s. Allow to cool completely before serving.
Notes:
- Your oven may have hot and cool spots, that’s totally normal. If you know that yours does, be sure to rotate the tray after two minutes so that the whole thing heats evenly.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Pam says
These are so cute and yummy, but they didn’t want to set. I also had to leave them in about 1 1/2 mins longer.
Little Sunny Kitchen says
They will eventually set! Place the tray in the fridge to help speed up the process.