Easy Christmas Gumdrop Nougat Candy
Easy Christmas Gumdrop Nougat Candy
This Christmas Gumdrop Nougat Candy is an easy no-bake treat that’s perfect for the holiday season. Great as a homemade gift!
These Gumdrop Nougat Candies taste like nostalgia and Christmas’ past. And I love them. They’re sweet, soft, chewy and so delicious. And very easy to make. Create a batch and share them with friends, give them as gifts, and make sure to have them on your holiday treat plate!
Who knew that marshmallows + white chocolate chips = a chewy and delicious nougat?! And with festive red and green gumdrops, this is a perfect Christmas treat.
I love that this treat is no bake, and that it can come together in just minutes. All you need to do is melt together a little butter, mini marshmallows and white chocolate chips, then stir in chopped gumdrops. Then spread it out into a parchment paper lined pan.
Christmas Gumdrop Nougat Candy Recipe Tip
The mixture is pretty sticky, so a little trick I use is to lightly grease a small square of parchment paper then use that to spread and pat the mixture down. Put it in the fridge for a few hours (overnight is best) to set…it needs to be completely cooled to cut it.
When it comes time to cut them up into squares, make sure you use a large sharp knife because they’re sticky!
As you cut into the nougat you’ll see how pretty these candies are! The red and green gumdrops look like stained glass in the nougat.
Aren’t they so pretty?
No one is going to be able to resist these candies when you put them out…trust me. I had to put away over half of our batch or we were going to eat them all in one sitting! But don’t worry, I have a recipe tip for you.
Christmas Gumdrop Nougat Candy Recipe Tip
This batch will make about 60 bite sized nougat candies, so if you’re not serving them right away, you might consider freezing this treat! Layer the cut pieces of nougat between pieces of parchment paper and place in an air tight container, and put them into the freezer. When you’re ready to serve, let them sit for about 1 hour or more after freezing, to bring them to room temperature.
A delicious holiday treat you need to make!
Easy Christmas Gumdrop Nougat Candy
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 225 gram bags white chocolate chips (DO NOT USE Chipits)
- 2 250 gram bags of mini marshmallows
- 1 1/2 cups chopped red and green gumdrops see notes below for where to buy them
Instructions
- Prepare an 8x8 square baking dish by lining it with parchment paper.
- Cut the gumdrops in half. Set aside.
- Melt the butter, white chocolate chips and marshmallows together over indirect medium heat. To do this I create a double boiler by putting a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water (making sure that the bowl and pan fit together snug). This ensures that the mixture doesn't burn.
- Continuously stir the mixture until it is smooth and melted together, making sure not to cook the mixture...the goal is to just melt, not cook or boil. See tips above in this post!
- Remove from heat.
- Let cool for about 2 minutes.
- Stir in the gumdrops. Mix well.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
- The mixture will be very sticky, so I use a lightly greased piece of parchment paper or wax paper to help spread and pat the mixture down into the pan.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cutting, overnight is best.
- Slice into 60 bite sized pieces.
- To store the candies, use parchment paper between layers so the candies don't stick together.
- Enjoy this nougat recipe!
Notes
Tips and Tricks for Making Nougat Candy:
RECIPE UPDATE! I have received a lot of questions about melting the butter, white chocolate chips and marshmallows together. I prefer to use the double boiler method because it’s a lot more difficult to burn the mixture with the indirect heat. A lot of people found this method hard because the mixture is very sticky and takes some time to melt down. I realize that, but I still feel like it’s the better method. You just have to be patient and keep stirring. Here are some tips:
- Put the butter and the chips in the bowl first and get them melting.
- Then add in 1/3 of the marshmallows and get them melting.
- Then the next 1/3 and stir them in, get them melting down.
- Add the remaining marshmallows, stir them in and keep mixing until the mixture is smooth and there are no remaining marshmallows.
- The whole process only takes about 10 minutes or less.
Where to buy gumdrops for nougat candy:
I’ve had a lot of questions about where to buy the gumdrops for this candy, so I thought I’d share what I know here:
- The candy I used are called Baking Gums. They’re small and don’t have any sugar on the outside of them.
- The ones I used were these Baking Gums from Bulk Barn. They’re in the baking aisle, and they come in a mix of yellow, orange, red and green. I just sorted out the red and green ones once I got home.
- I have also seen them at Save On Foods under the brand Nutty Club.
– – – – –
– – – – –
More Delicious No-Bake Christmas Treats:
- Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters
- Caramel Crunch Popcorn
- Easy Peppermint Bark
- Candy Cane Cloud Dessert
- A Collection of Easy No-Bake Christmas Treats
Check out my Valentine’s Day Nougat too! I’m sharing even more tips in this post!
Happy Holidays!
It looks like your gum drops are without sugar . Where can i find them?
Hi Robyn! Yes they are…I bought mine at Bulk Barn.
I love this recipe and have made it several times already this month. My grandson even took a large batch of it to school and shared it with anyone that wanted to try. It’s very nostalgic and reminds me the Christmas nougat candy from my childhood. Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us.
I used Dots. Can be found in about any candy aisle in the United States
I used Dots cut in half too – it was the most favorite of all the cookies/candies I made this year from the recipients.
That’s what I use as well..$1 at dollar tree
Thanks for the great hints regarding the gumdrops. I’m always looking new candies for my Christmas gift baskets and this recipe seems simple to make. I like the idea of freezing. Happy Baking
Oh good. Ontario is a long way away, and before I read all the way to the bottom of the recipe, I purchased Dots as well. I’m glad someone has proved that that works!
I’ve made these the last two Christmas sand love them. For a batch last year, I used cinnamon bears. They were so good!
Can you use jujubes? I cannot find gum drops anywhere where I live.
Absolutely! Just cut them up (in half or quarters). Enjoy!
I made these candies twice this Christmas along with 13 other candies. My son’s lady loved them as I did, too. My daughter, who is a die hard chocolate lover, stated that these candies may become her new favorite. I used Dots candies for the gum drops. The first time I used one large (theater size) box and the second time I used two. My only problem with the recipe is using grams for measurements. It would have been easier using cup measurements for the white chocolate and mini marshmallows, but luckily I have a food scale that helped. Also, when it came to cutting the strips I thought I may have to use my husband’s skill saw. BUT the candies were well worth it!
I mixed in pistachios and dried cherries they were wonderful
Oh that sounds delicious, great idea!
I made these with jujubes cut up in small pieces and I also used a rubber scraper to pull out and pat down this confection . This sticky recipe sticks to metals but not to rubber. Hope this helps make your next fondant recipe a whole lot easier 😃👍
That is a great tip! I find the same thing!
Sorry I meant nougat …. haha . I was thinking it is much like my fondant though .👍
Love that idea
With the dots?
I got myself a Salter scale for around $20.. I don’t know how I cooked without it. You put a container on it, then turn it on and it shows a tare weight of 0. Press a button and change it from ounces to grams. It was a life saver for this recipe. I also used Dots. Hard to mix, but so worth it. I too had a problem scraping out the bowl. My solution was scrape it out of the bowl and eat it. So yummy!
I paid under $10.00 for my scale. It is a must to have! When I get recipes and it says grams…I don’t have a problem with it anymore.Grams is more accurate than cups..you will love it😃
What happens if you use the gum drops with sugar?
They work fine…but the extra sugar may add a little ‘grit’ to the candy.
Can you convert grams to once, please? I came up with 8.04 with seems odd????
Thank you
28 grams per ounce. Divide the grams by 28
Sounds more like fudge tnan nougat.
Hi Ed! It’s definitely not fudge…it’s very chewy like nougat.
Can you use gumdrop with sugar thanks
Hi Anita! I think they would work just fine…the only thing that might be an issue is that the sugar on the gumdrops might give a little gritty crunch to the candy…so it depends on whether you would like that or not.
I use just normal jujubs so not sugar free and it works just fine. There is no gritty crunch at all
Were these spice gumdrops?
Hi Lynn! No, they’re just plain gum drops…the flavours were cherry and lime.
These look so pretty and festive ! Thanks for the recipe !
Thank you Debi! And you’re welcome…I hope you make it and enjoy it!
How totally sweet and cute! Thank you.
Thank you Karen!
Hi I found your recipe for the candy you have 225 for white chips it’s that in grams if so is that 9 ounces in pounds and also the 250 I would really like to make the candy but I want to make sure I’m doing this right thank you for your time thank you and have a blessed day Paula
Hi Paula! Yes, that’s in grams. You will need 2 of the 225 gram bags. Enjoy!
I made this recipe and it ended up great! My only issue is that I would have liked to have seen a few photos of the actual melting/mixing process. I set up a double boiler with a heat proof bowl; it had a really ti. When I put all of the ingredients together–boy! I thought it would never melt before it cooked. I ended up using the microwave in short bursts to get it going. Also, it was hard to mix and I found sticking to the sides a big issue. I put it back on top of the pot with water in it while I mixed which helped. Also, you didn’t mention spraying the parchment in the pan to keep the mixture from sticking to it. I took the pan out of the fridge and had a hard time separating the parchment from the candy. But with all of that said, it ended up great! These are very much like the Brach candies I loved as a kid. They came out really pretty too. I would definitely make these again.
Hi Claire! I’m so happy you made this recipe! You are right, it does take some time to melt…it feels like it takes forever, but I just stayed with it melting over the double boiler, and once it reaches a certain point the melting speeds up. Next time I make it, I’ll take some pictures of this process for others who might like to see it too! I also like your idea of spraying the parchment lightly first, while I didn’t have any trouble getting mine off the parchment paper, this is a great tip for others! Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate your feedback! Happy holidays!
I can’t find gumdrops can you substitute fruit slices in the place of the gumdrop they are mad the same way I would just cut the top layer off because of all the auger please let me know and thank you hunny
Hi Katie! Any gumdrop or gummy type candy will work in this recipe.
Can u add pepermint to give it some flavor?
Hi Renee! I’m not sure as I’ve never tried it. But the gumdrops are nice flavour!
Instead of grams could you give me how many cups for the minis and the white chocolate? I have partial bags of each.
Hi Suzanne! I didn’t measure the ingredients by cups, so I can’t really say. For best results you have to use weight.
Suzanne ….. 10 cups of mini marshmallows. Not sure about the white chocolate chips as I just used the 225 g bags of chips.