Christmas Buttons

We're really careful about the amount of goodies we make during the holidays...sugar and my family just don't go together very well. But there are so many wonderful things about creating Christmas treats together to share with neighbors that I we just picked our very favorite...our Christmas Buttons. A sweet little preschooler made some of these for me a few years ago. Let me warn you, they are hard to resist! Think bite sized minty chocolate dipped pretzel; the perfect combination of salty and sweet.

Always the Montessorian, I gathered together all the materials my boys would need to make these themselves: Candy Cane Kisses, square pretzel snaps, and Christmas colored M & M's.

First the boys carefully lined their cookie sheets with pretzels.

Then they unwrapped their kisses.  Great practice for little fingers.

I provided an extra dish for the unwrapped kisses and the wrappers:  easy cleanup and a chance to practice sorting.

Next they centered their kisses on the pretzels.  I put these into a 350 (f) degree oven for about 5 min.  You might experiment on the time to see what works best.

While the kisses were still warm we pressed the m&m's into the soft chocolate.  The minty smell in the kitchen was amazing and the buttons tasted even better.  A fun and simple treat for the boys to place in a little dish and share with their primary teachers.