happy momma's day.

I find it sort of ironic that when I was in high school and college and broke as a joke, I was always trying to think of the perfect give to buy for my parents for birthdays and holidays. Now that I'm a real grown up (or something like that) and make good money, I find that I'm much more inclined to hand make the gifts I give.
Sort of backwards, but maybe it's just that I discovered that these gifts mean a little bit more coming from my hands.

Because I love to bake, I tend to make sweets and treats for gifts. For my dad's birthday last year, I made a lemon chess pie. It was bangin'.

This year for Mother's Day, I went the same route. Not necessarily baking, but definitely a sweet treat for my mom to munch on. I saw these trail mix bites on Pinterest and knew immediately that she would love them. This is for the woman who dips her bananas in Hershey's chocolate syrup. She loves dark chocolate. And the trail mix? I've never been a fan, but my mom used to make some awesome gorp when she was my Girl Scout leader and she still loves to snack on the sweet/salty mixture when she's hiking, climbing mountains, and generally just being Wonder Woman.

These bites are so easy and pretty and portable!
They're perfect.
Much like my momma.

Trail Mix Bites
(this made about 24 bites for me)

Ingredients:
1 dark chocolate bar, 3.5-4 oz (I used 70%)
A handful of your favorite trail mix
--I wandered around Central Market's bulk section of trail mixes until I found one I thought fit what I was looking for. Because I don't eat much trail mix, I didn't want a whole bag for myself. This way, I controlled what I bought, which was about 1/4 lb of trail mix and it was exactly enough.

Prepare a cookie sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
Place coarsely chopped chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in small bursts of 30 seconds, stirring in between until chocolate is completely melted.
Using a spoon, pour dollops of the melted chocolate onto your Silpat, about an inch apart. Mine were each 1-2 inches in diameter.
Place pieces of the trail mix in whatever combination you like on each chocolate round.
Place in freezer until completely hardened (about an hour to an hour and a half).

Enjoy. Hug your mom a little extra today. I know I will. :)

-e.