Last Updated on December 6, 2024
These Hershey Kiss Mice are always a hit when we give them to neighbors and friends, and they’re a blast to make as a family too!
Every year when we do our holiday baking, my kids look most forward to making these chocolate covered cherry mice. We discovered this recipe courtesy of Family Fun magazine and it has been a hit with everyone we share them with each year.
Another delicious chocolate covered holiday treat that your kids can make with you are these white chocolate peppermint cookies.
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What Does a Mouse Have to do With Christmas?
Mice actually play a prominent role in many Christmas stories.
The poem, “Twas the Night before Christmas” that your parents read to you and you’ve probably read to your children, begins with the line, “‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”
The idea for The Nutcracker story came from a fantasy story called “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” The original story was a little dark, but the story we all know and love is still about about a girl who gets a nutcracker that comes to life and engages in a battle against the evil Mouse King.
There’s several different versions of “The Christmas Mouse” story, but they’re all basically about a mouse living somewhere (a home, a church) and finding food to eat. The mouse usually befriends the people where he lives and also some amazing things happen.
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❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
These chocolate covered mice are loved by family and friends, and here’s why:
- Make a great classroom gift: Teachers have made these for their students and moms have made these for a class party.
- Too cute: These mice are so cute — in fact, they’re almost too cute to eat (almost — they are chocolate, so …)
- Unique treat for Santa: If your kids want to leave out something different for Santa, these treats are a great idea.
If you really want to make cookies for Christmas, but still want to use cherries, try these chocolate cherry cookies.
🥘 Ingredients
You only need 6 ingredients to make these super cute treats.
- Almond bark: You’ll melt chocolate almond bark to dip the cherries in.
- Marachino cherries: Make sure you get the ones with the stems because that’s the tail for the mice.
- Sliced almonds: These are the ears for the mouse.
See recipe card for complete list of ingredients and quantities
🔀 Substitutions
Almond bark: You can use melting wafers if you don’t have almond bark.
Sliced almonds: If you want a cheaper alternative, you can use peanut halves as the ears instead.
Blue decorator’s frosting: Any color of frosting will work for the eyes.
🥄 Equipment Needed / Helpful Tools
You only need a couple of items to make these cute mice.
- Microwave safe bowl: You will use a bowl to melt the almond bark in the microwave.
- Wax paper: After dipping the cherry in chocolate, you’ll put it on wax paper to finish assembling the mouse.
🔪 How to Make Hershey Kiss Mice
Normally, I’m all about the easiest recipes possible. But, I make an exception for these mice because the kids love making them, everyone loves to receive them, and they’re simply adorable!
Step 1: Melt the Chocolate
To start, we have to melt the chocolate. I usually melt mine in the microwave. Be very careful not to overheat it, otherwise it gets thick and goopy.
Step 2: Coat Each Cherry
Next, you’ll dip each cherry into the chocolate (holding onto the stem).
Make sure the cherry is coated completely in chocolate.
Step 3: Attach the Head
The cherry is the mouse’s body. Now we need to attach the Hershey’s kisses for the mouse’s head.
Lay the chocolate covered cherry down on wax paper with the stem out to the back and press a Hershey’s kiss onto the opposite side.
Step 4: Add the Ears
Quickly, before the chocolate sets, add two sliced almonds to each mouse as its ears. The almonds should slide between the Hershey’s kiss and the cherry. Once the chocolate hardens, it will hold the ears and head in place.
Step 5: Finishing Touches
Finally, we just need to add a couple of finishing touches. Add two dots of blue or green frosting to give each mouse a pair of eyes. And add a small dot of red or pink frosting to the tip of the Hershey’s kiss for the nose.
How cute are these little guys? As soon as the chocolate sets, you can safely move them to a storage container or serving plate.
👩🍳 Pro Tips
Here are some things that make it easier to make these mice:
- Besides just draining the cherries, you can also rinse them and then pat them with paper towels to dry. This helps make it so the chocolate will be able to stick to the cherries when you dip them.
- It’s much easier and less messy to dip the cherry in the chocolate if there are stems on the cherries.
- You can put each chocolate covered cherry mouse on half of a double stuffed Oreo, or on a white chocolate covered Oreo, so it looks like it’s on the snow.
- This dessert is much easier to put together if you do it in an assembly line. Just go down the line putting the treat together and the assembly will be quicker.
❓ Recipe FAQs
It usually takes about 15-30 minutes for the chocolate to set at room temperature, or you can refrigerate them so they’ll set faster.
Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They should last for up to a week.
You can experiment with different types of nuts, chocolate, and even add additional decorations like sprinkles.
🙏 Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with Hershey Kiss Mice:
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📋 Recipe
Hershey Kiss Mice
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Equipment
- Microwave safe bowl
- Wax paper
Ingredients
- 8 ounces almond bark
- 2 jars maraschino cherries preferably WITH stems
- 12 ounce bag Hershey’s kisses
- 4 ounce bag sliced almonds
- red decorator’s frosting
- blue decorator’s frosting
Instructions
- Unwrap Hershey's kisses and set aside.12 ounce bag Hershey’s kisses
- Drain cherries and pat with paper towels to dry.2 jars maraschino cherries
- Melt almond bark according to package directions.8 ounces almond bark
- Dip cherries in chocolate one at a time and set on wax paper.
- Immediately press a Hershey’s kiss against the front of the dipped cherry (the side opposite the stem) and insert 2 sliced almonds between the kiss and the cherry.4 ounce bag sliced almonds
- After all of the mice are assembled, dab a dot of red decorator’s frosting on the tip of each kiss to make the nose and add two dots of blue to make the eyes.red decorator’s frosting, blue decorator’s frosting
Notes
Pro Tips
- Besides just draining the cherries, you can also rinse them and then pat them with paper towels to dry. This helps make it so the chocolate will be able to stick to the cherries when you dip them.
- It’s much easier and less messy to dip the cherry in the chocolate if there are stems on the cherries.
- You can put each chocolate covered cherry mouse on half of a double stuffed Oreo, or on a white chocolate covered Oreo, so it looks like it’s on the snow.
these are sooooo cute! My kids would love to make these for sure. They would make a great classroom gift.
Awe so cute! Looks fairly quick and easy to make. These must be really popular with kids as they look so yummy!
How cute! That is a very clever idea & great for parties!
When I first saw this, it was shared on someones page and I just saw the title. My first thought was – Wow I thought chocolate covered bugs were gross. Then I came to see the post and these are so cute.
Those are too cute! I can attest to the fact that it is easier to dip the cherries with the stem on, but those turned out great!
Oh how cute are those, I’m not sure I would want to eat them they look so nice, but they do also sound like they taste delicious.. x
These are adorable! Love the little blue eyes. I think my daughter would get a kick out of them.
These are so cute! I planned to make these for my children but bought chocolate covered cherries from the store. I think the homemade ones will be much prettier. Thanks for the tip!
Those are almost too cute to eat lol! My boys would absolutely LOVE these and they sound easy enough for even me to make 🙂
That’s one cute idea….I would love to do this one for sure!
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These little mice are too cute to eat! (But I’m sure everyone else in my family would be happy to eat these cute chocolate covered cherries right up). I love making frosted cut-out cookies each year with my kiddos at Christmas time.
Hi Corinne – Oh my goodness – these little guys are too adorable! I love how you have this family tradition, and I’m sure your kids will carry on when they get older. Hugs, Holly
I love these little mice! I bet they taste good and don’t last long in the house. I can see where having the “tail” would be easier, but I am glad you worked with what you had. When my daughter was young, I used to get Family Fun magazine – we still use recipes and ideas from it!