The two candies/cookies that I made for our Wednesday Mah Jongg game were so easy that it is almost embarrassing to write down the recipes. These recipes are always a big hit.

The first recipe is for what my mother named Crunchbirds, in honor of my uncle’s Oscar-winning animated short, The Crunchbird. I don’t know if she actually made up this recipe herself as I think variations of it exist all over the place. But whatever, they are so delicious and, just as an aside, men LOVE them!

MY MOM’S CRUNCHBIRDS

1 12 oz. pkg. chocolate chips

1 12 oz. pkg. butterscotch bits

1 can Spanish peanuts w/skins

1 can Chow Mein noodles

Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch bits in the top of a double boiler until completely melted and blended together.

Remove from heat and stir in the noodles.  Carefully fold in until the noodles are completely covered. Then add peanuts and again keep folding until everything is mixed together and completely covered. Drop by teaspoonful (I use a tiny ice cream scoop) on a waxed-paper covered cookie sheet. Refrigerate until completely hard.

The next recipe is also silly easy but so nice to get those sweet and salty tastes together. You can top them with anything of your choice but I like those M&M Pretzels the best. Again, hard to say who came up with this idea because photos and recipes for these are all over the Internet. Rolo Candies bring back sweet memories for me as my father always carried a roll of Rolos in his pocket. 

ROLO PRETZEL CANDIES

Mini Pretzels

Rolo candies, unwrapped

Pretzel M&M’s, peanut M&M’s, or pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place mini pretzels on a large baking sheet. Top each pretzel with one Rolo candy. Place in the oven for 2-4 minutes, until Rolo candies start to melt. Don’t melt them all the way.

Remove from oven and lightly press a Pretzel M&M, Peanut M&M, or a pecan on top of each Rolo.

Eat warm or let them cool if you want them to set up.YUM!!! Enjoy!