Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters Recipe
Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters Recipe
If you’re looking to make homemade chocolate caramel candies, this recipe is SO easy and SO delicious! These Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters are so much better than store-bought.
A perfect homemade holiday treat.
I love the holiday season because it’s the perfect excuse to bake and create in my kitchen. Ok, I don’t really need an excuse, but I do especially love cooking for the holidays! These candies are great as a little sweet treat after dinner, they’re a perfect addition to holiday treat plates, and great for gift giving. Homemade gifts are the best, especially delicious chocolate ones. I hope you make these chocolates and love them as much as we do!
About these chocolate caramel candies:
These Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters are made up of 3 layers: toasted nuts, creamy caramel, and rich and smooth chocolate. Three rich, delicious and flavour layers that make up the most yummy homemade candy!
Use the good chocolate.
Seriously though, use the good stuff, premium chocolate. These homemade chocolate treats are so delicious especially if you make them with the best kind of chocolate. I like to use Lindt chocolate, you just know anything with Lindt will be amazing. For this recipe I used 1-100g Lindt Excellence 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate Bar, and 1-100g Lindt Swiss Classic Milk Chocolate Bar. You can use all dark chocolate if that’s what you like, or all milk chocolate, it’s totally up to you!
Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters
Recipe Tips
- CHOCOLATE: Use GOOD quality chocolate. For this recipe I used 1-100g Lindt Excellence 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate Bar, and 1-100g Lindt Swiss Classic Milk Chocolate Bar. You can use all dark chocolate if that’s what you like, or all milk chocolate, it’s totally up to you!
- NUTS: You can use any type of nuts that you like. You can use 1 type of nut, or a mixture of nuts. Here are some examples: pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds.
- TOASTING THE NUTS: Toasting nuts brings out so much flavour so I recommend this! You don’t have to, but really, toasted nuts are super delicious.
- SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK: This recipe uses half of a 14 oz can. Here are some recipe ideas for the leftover sweetened condensed milk.
- SALTY TOPS: I like to finish these chocolates off with a little sprinkling of coarse sugar or sea salt. You can also use festive red and green sprinkles, confetti or chopped candy canes.
- STORAGE: Keep in an airtight container.
- FREEZING: Yes, you can freeze these. Let them come up to room temperature before serving. One thing to note, after freezing sometimes chocolate takes on a whitish bloom, but not too worry, they’re totally fine. If you have a little cooking torch you can slightly melt the tops to remove it.
Putting these Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters together:
Here’s a quick look at how to make these Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters. It’s so easy, I promise. And SO worth the effort.
For the nut base, I used a combination of pecans, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts, but you can also use walnuts, peanuts or brazil nuts, almonds, whatever you like! The great thing about making chocolate nut clusters is that you can tailor them to your taste.
Once the nuts are toasted and gathered into little clusters, it’s time to add the homemade caramel. The addition of the creamy caramel pairs so perfectly with the nuts and chocolate.
Swirl on a layer of creamy warm chocolate, you’re almost there. Yum.
Done!
Finishing Touches!
Then to finish off these treats I like to sprinkle a little bit of my homemade vanilla sugar onto the tops of each candy, but you can also use regular coarse sugar or sea salt. Delicious. You can also make them extra festive by sprinkling on a red and green sprinkles, edible confetti (like in these cake mix cookies), or chopped candy canes. These Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters are definitely worth the effort!
Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters Recipe
Ingredients
Chocolate Layer:
- 100 g Dark Chocolate Bar (see tips above)
- 100 g Milk Chocolate Bar (see tips above)
Caramel Layer:
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 7 oz sweetened condensed milk (1/2 of a 14 ounce can)
Nut Layer:
- 1 1/2 cups total of nuts of your choice I used 1/2 cup hazelnuts, 1/2 cup pecans, 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, all slightly toasted.
Instructions
Making the Caramel:
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat.
- Add the brown sugar, corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk.
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Cook while stirring constantly, until the temperature of the caramel reaches 243 degrees F, about 15 minutes, then set aside to cool.
Toasting the Nuts:
- Toast the nuts in a skillet over medium heat. Shake or stir continuously until the nuts start to turn golden brown (this only takes a few minutes). Transfer nuts to a bowl and set aside.
Melting the Chocolate:
- Finely chop the chocolate bars.
- To melt the chopped chocolate, I place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water (making sure that the bowl and pan fit together snug).
- Add the chopped chocolate to the bowl, and stirring constantly gently heat the chocolate until it is melted and smooth.
- Remove from the heat and cool until the chocolate begins to set on the side of the bowl. Set aside.
Putting the Clusters Together:
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Arrange the nuts into little clusters on the parchment paper, separating the clusters by about 2 inches: I used 2 pecans, 4 – 5 hazelnuts and a couple macadamia nuts.
- Drizzle about 2 teaspoons of caramel over each nut cluster, working quickly so the caramel doesn’t have a chance to harden.
- Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the melted chocolate over the top of the caramel and nuts.
- Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. You can serve them once the candy clusters have hardened.
Notes
Have a delicious day!
That looks so good! I love cooking and baking for Christmas too.
Mmm..these look so good and perfect for holiday treats!!
Thank you Damaris!
These look delicious! I make a candy similar to this and it has always been a big hit. Thanks for sharing! Pinning this to try.
Oh these are my favorites. Thanks for sharing with us at #Throwback Thursday. Pinned. Hope to see you again this week. Quinn