Just Saw This Awesome Recipe / Gift Idea on the Today Show

Hug Bites:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Line pretzel twists up on a baking sheet. I stuff as many as I can onto each one. They are not in nice little rows, more like jam packed, and they can butt up next to each other. I do as many trays as will fit into my oven at one time. I put about 25 in each mason jar, so you can figure that out based on how many people you are giving these to. Be sure to make extra for your family too!

3. Place a Hershey Kiss Hug (the white choc and milk mixed) on top of each pretzel. Unwrapping them is the ONLY part that takes a few minutes.

4. Put the trays into the oven for 2-3 minutes. The Hershey kisses should be soft, but not melted.

5. Remove the trays and put an M&M on top of each kiss and press down to smush it. I do some red and green, some all blue, and some mixed.

You can package these in ANYTHING. I like mason jars because they are inexpensive and make a cute presentation. They can be purchased just about anywhere, but I got mine at Michael’s.

For my packaging:

1. Cut a piece of ribbon approximately ten inches. You can trim it, but you don’t want to waste too much. Try one piece before you cut them all to make sure you like the size.

2. Stick a one inch piece of double sided tape in the middle of the ribbon on the side you want to stick to the jar. Stick that part on the back. Wrap the ribbon around the jar and tie a bow or knot. (You will need less ribbon for a knot.)

3. I got one package of snowflake stickers and one of holly bush, which I just stuck on or above the ribbon. This is optional, but you get about 24 stickers for around $3.50 and it adds a nice touch.

4. I got the ribbon and stickers at Michael’s, and most was 50% off at the time. They are always having sales and coupons so make sure you check before you buy! I also got gift tags that just happened to be the perfect size to slip over the top of the mason jar. I simply wrote To and From in a red or blue pen.

When I tried to figure out how much I spent on this project I estimated a little less than $4 a jar. I don’t think you can beat that price for something this delicious and packaged.

Man, this sounds Yummy!

THE BEST CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE. EVER. (from The Pioneer Woman)

CAKE:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup boiling water
• ½ cup buttermilk (or use this Pioneer Woman tip to make a buttermilk substitute: pour just under 1/2 cup regular milk into a measuring cup, then add enough regular vinegar to the milk to bring the quantity up to 1/2 cup–it will turn into buttermilk within seconds!)
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

FROSTING:

• 1 3/4 stick butter
• 4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 cup) powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts, optional (Jane did not use nuts in her frosting and it was great…so if you don’t like nuts, leave them out!)

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

Melt butter in a saucepan and add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. If using nuts, chop them finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the nuts, stir together, and pour over warm cake. (NOTE: if you follow these directions, you’ll notice your frosting is still a little lumpy. To make her frosting really nice and smooth, Jane simply cooked the frosting several minutes longer over low heat, stirring until the mixture was smooth; she also omitted the nuts. You could also leave the nuts out of the frosting mixture and sprinkle them on top of the icing instead).

You can let the frosting cool and set before cutting into squares if you want, or cut into squares while it’s still warm and dig in!

As big as this sheet cake is, it disappears pretty quickly!

I found this on Pinterest