Chocolate Pretzel Bites

Seriously, I couldn't have married into a better situation if I tried again.

We all know keeping up with friends from our past is hard work (although definitely made easier since the invention of Facebook).  And when it comes to keeping up with friends, it's usually the women that have held on to their best buds.  Men, not so much.

So it is just completely amazing to me that after 30+ years, my husband is still tight as can be with the friends he used to run wild through the neighborhood with as a kid.  Not something you normally see.

And what's cooler...they actually converge on OBX, NC once a year for some good old family fun (with geeky board gaming thrown in for good measure, because you can't have a trip and not play board games...it just isn't going to happen.)

This year, after a two year hiatus due to some cash flow issues, we were finally able to rejoin the ranks on THE TRIP, as it has been named.

Now what you need to know about the trip is that when it comes to food, well, let's just say the menu for the week tends to include a lot of sugar with some alcohol and chips thrown in for good measure.  Drumsticks are the mainstay in the freezer and it isn't uncommon to find 2-3 packs of Oreos (or beach cookies, as they were dubbed by my oldest daughter back when she was 3) sitting open on the counter.

So really, I couldn't have been dropped into a better situation this year...the baking bug hit and I had a houseful of people who were more than willing to eat whatever I made, meaning less for me to have to eat...although don't get me wrong, I partook in A LOT of what I made.

I took along my Carcassonne cookies from my previous post.  Those were a HUGE hit...especially with the kids.  I think every kid made sure that they had the chance to eat a cookie of every color...made for a lot of hyperactive kids.

I also took along the rest of the chocolate chip cookies I made...you know, the ones from my famous friend Megan.  And I was right...they are the best cookies ever...they didn't even make it through 24 hours.

But I couldn't just stop there.  No...all my browsing through Pinterest found quite a few yummy things that just had to be tried.  First up....Chocolate Pretzel Bites.

A quick Google search reveals that they are nothing new...seems everyone is making them with all sorts of different color combinations, depending on what holiday is right around the corner.  I wanted to try something a little different, but being stuck on a small island chain where you basically have one store to shop at and it only carries a small variety of any given product left me unable to try what I wanted....so I let Maddie be the picker, and she chose Hershey's Hugs with regular M&Ms.

They didn't turn out half bad, even if they weren't what I originally wanted.  (But that's okay because that just means I can make them at a later date.)  They were even pretty simple to make...and would have been more simple if a certain 7-year old would have helped me unwrap all those darn Hershey's Kisses, but we won't go there.

Anyway, if you are looking for a good sweet/salty treat to take to a get-together...you know, a Bunco night or a meeting of the nerd herd for some serious gaming, you just might want to check this babies out...you won't be let down.