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.
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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!
I think I am going to add this to my list of treats I make every Christmas. They came out just perfect and everyone loves them. The hardest part of the whole process was finding the Christmas Dots Candy. I know I could have used the regular ones but I got it in my head that I really wanted the red and green ones. After many different store trips they were finally found. I found stirring from the bottom up was crucial when melting. Getting the mixture out of the double boiler did take some strength and needs to be done quickly. No need to take a picture of mine as mine came out just as pictured.
Oh that is wonderful to hear Nancy! They’re just delicious aren’t they?! And so pretty.
I made them as Rose did (December 11 comment). 2 bags of white chips, 2 bags of mini marshmallows, the butter, & 3 boxes of Dots. I microwaved in 30 & 20 second increments, stirring after each interval. BUTTER is key! Butter the inside of your bowl, butter your wooden stirring spoon, and at the end butter your hands and mix in Dots with your hands. It does get gooey but the butter helps. I’ve made 4 batches to give away and they are a huge hit with everyone!
I have made these with sour jujubes cut in smaller pieces but do not use the purple/black ones. The jujubes make a lovely tangy yet sweet nougat. I have also made chocolate nougat with milk chocolate chips with the addition of toasted hazelnuts. They reminded me of EatMore chocolate bars with a hazelnut twist. I have also heard that some people add dried fruit and/or nuts to their nougat with delicious results.
Loved this and it came out looking so beautiful! I did replace the gumdrops with “Fruit Slices” (These are like the old fashioned orange slices, but in different flavors/colors). Very festive on the Christmas table. The family begged for more….so of course … I made more. For Valentine’s Day, I think I will make them with red gumdrops. St. Patrick’s Day…
I’m so happy you enjoyed it Bobbi! I’m also making it for Valentine’s day…it’s so pretty!
Can u use jelly beans
Hi I made this today…I used cut up gummy worms…i dont know if I cut them in too small of pieces or what but when i added them to the mixture they immediately melted…mu nougat is now pink…no pieces of the gummies any where..tastes good just looks funny…lol…do you think i cut them too small?
Hi Dottie! I think the problem is the use of gummy worms…gummy worms are too soft and melt easily. I will only use gumdrops in this recipe because they don’t melt easily. ~ Jo-Anna
thank you for your reply…I will try to find the gum drops
I made these for Christmas and everyone loved them so I’m going to make them for St Patrick’s with green yellow and white gum drops! Thanks for sharing your recipes.
Oh that’s a great idea for St. Patrick’s Day! I’m so happy you enjoy this recipe Granma Sue!
FYI…to those that had a hard time making this…try cutting the recipe in half it might be easier to work with!
This recipe is perfect ?
Thank you Deb!