A sweet and salty combination is always a hit, whether it is trail mix or salted hot chocolate. In spirit of Valentine’s Day, make a tasty, savory homemade snack called pretzel buttons.

These pretzel buttons require only three ingredients, are simple and quick to make, and are a cute addition to the holiday.

I like these bite-sized treats because they look cute with stripes and colors on each pretzel, and the quantity of the batch can satisfy many of my friends.

You can create a batch of these buttons and use them for a variety of occasions such as parties, potlucks and at the office.

I like to give Valentine’s gifts to many of the people I love. Buying gifts like chocolate can be expensive.

The wrapping of these gifts also adds a creative touch. I plan on putting a couple cups of these into plastic lunch bags and adding a decorative touch by curling ribbons around the top of the bag. Ideas include adding homemade gift tags to the ribbons, using themed plastic bags or putting these sweet and savory munchies in decorative boxes.

All of the Valentine-themed supplies and recipe ingredients can be bought at Target or the Dollar Store.

This recipe was adapted from griffithsrated.blogspot.com

Valentine’s Button Pretzels

1 bag (12 ounce) square pretzels (you can use salted or unsalted)

1 bag (12 ounce) Hershey’s Hugs chocolates

1 bag (1.69 ounce) plain M&M’s

Preheat oven to 200 F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the pretzels and put one Hug on top of each pretzel. The Hugs are softer and easier to melt than Hershey’s Kisses.

Bake four to five minutes. The chocolate should be soft but maintain its shape.

Place an M&M (preferably Valentine’s ones to stick with the color and theme of the holiday) on top of each Hershey’s Hug and carefully press down so that the chocolate spreads over the top of the pretzel. Allow to cool completely and enjoy.

Anna Puccinelli can be reached at [email protected]