Rudolph Nose Candy

This past Christmas, since my family decided to indulge in more holiday treats of their choice, I decided to dive into making some of the treats any given family member selected...and then some!

I found a recipe for a very simple candy to make: Reindeer Noses. This past year was the 1st time I'd ever heard of or seen them...but they seemed to be everywhere! And since the seemed so easy, I thought of adding them to my foodie repertoire.

Now I have seen several version of this. But they all involve a small pretzel base (preferably round), a small milk chocolate candy (I've seen Hershey Kisses/Hugs & Rolos used), and then a topper of sorts - like a single M&M, a candy corn or pecan. I have seen them used & posted for all kinds of holidays, too...

But this time...I wanted to make the Christmas ones! But I ran into a couple of problems when I went shopping for ingredients:

1. I couldn't find the holiday M&M's. I really wanted a lot of red.
2. I couldn't get a hold of any round pretzels.

*sigh*

So I had to make due...and had to get my brainy-brain working quickly.

After some quick thinking...here's what I came up with:

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RUDOLPH NOSE CANDY

Ingredients:

~ small pretzels
~ 1 bag of Rolos
~ maraschino cherries, halved

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Either coat cookie sheet (preferably one with a lip around the edges) with cooking spray OR cover cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cover the cookie sheet with a single layer of small pretzels.

Set a Rolo on top of each pretzel.

Place in the oven for about 3-5 minutes.

While the Rolos are still warm & squishy, quickly place a cherry half on top of each Rolo & smash it down.

Let the candy set for about 10 minutes to cool & set up.

Carefully remove each "nose" candy from the baking sheet & place on a serving plate or platter.

Store in a air-tight container.

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These are so easy! Even the kiddos can help you make them!

Plus...this version of the candy is sweet, salty, crunchy, chewy, chocolaty, fruity...and so darn adorable! My family could not stop eating these! They went very quickly. Even after 2 or 3 batches...they didn't last very long at all.

For some different options, you could use about any variety of Hershey's Kisses or Hugs, Reece's mini peanut butter cups, or a Dove Promises variety.

As for how long to store them for...I don't know. They didn't last long enough for me to figure it out!

ENJOY!