Chocolate Cherry Bites

Whenever I have to pack a snack for myself I love to pack raw almonds, dried cherries or cranberries and throw in a few Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. My husband likes to make fun of me but I always make bites where I take an almond then stack a chocolate chip and then top with a cherry...those three things together make me smile! I have had so many people say how much they loved the Crispy Peanut Butter Cups that I posted in December and I have been trying to come up with something similar, easy and bite-sized, so I used my three favorite ingredients. I thought these would be great and they were. And the best part...they might be the easiest thing I have ever made!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (divided in half)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray. Mix almonds, cherries and half of the chocolate chips in a bowl. Take 4-5 chocolate chips and place them in the bottom of each muffin cup. I used Ghirardelli and they are a little bit larger than most brands so 4 in the bottom was perfect for me.  If you have any left mix them into the almond, cherry mixture, gently stir then fill your muffin cups with the mixture. Place in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Remove from the oven and using the back of a spoon give each muffin cup a little smoosh down so when the chocolate hardens it will hold them together. Then place in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes (if you need to eat them sooner) or in the fridge for about an hour if you can be patient. Once they are cooled use a butter knife to gently pry them from the muffin cups. Store them in the fridge.
 

The mix..

The arrangement



This is a picture of them 'post-smoosh'.

They aren't perfect, some of them are a little bit crumbly...

But they sure are good!!!

Weight Watcher Friends: These have 2 points each. When I did the calculations for points I divided by 12 and by 15 since there was enough ingredients to make about 3 more. Either way they had 2 points each. Enjoy!