These rich and tasty little candy gems use pretzel sticks, cream cheese, and canned cherry pie filling.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 cup (about 6 ounces) finely crushed pretzel stick crumbs (see note)
- 1 cup canned cherry pie filling
- .
- Chocolate Coating:
- 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
- 2 Tablespoons shortening or butter
Preparation:
Line mini-muffin tins with muffin papers.In a food processor, beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar together until smooth. Add pretzel crumbs, blending until combined. Add cherries and pulse until they are chopped and incorporated. Chill for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
Melt chocolate and shortening or butter until smooth and liquid. Pour into a ziptop baggie with a small corner cut from the bag for a spout or use a squeeze bottle. Squirt a small dab of chocolate into the bottom of each muffin paper.
Shape the cherry mixture into 1-inch balls and lightly press into the chocolate in each mini-muffin cup. Cover each with remaining melted chocolate. (If chocolate cools too much, you may need to gently rewarm it.)
Refrigerate to harden chocolate.
Yield: 4 dozen
Note: Choose the thinnest salted pretzel sticks you can find. To make crumbs, use the food processor and pulse until they finely crushed and of uniform size. If you have no food processor, place the pretzels in a heavy ziptop baggie and use a rolling pin to crush into crumbs.
