Christmas Party food should always include homemade candy. These Sweet & Salty Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters are the perfect addition to any holiday celebration.
Today is Day Four of our 12 Days of Christmas Ideas are nearly 40 bloggers are sharing their Holiday Party Food Ideas!
Welcome to the third annual 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop!
Stop by every day from December first through the twelfth for new ideas you can use to make your season brighter!
Meet Your Hosts
They have all been busy as Elves creating, decorating, cooking and crafting tons of new ideas for you to try this holiday season!
Shirley~Intelligent Domestications I Alli~An Alli Event I Michelle~Our Crafty Mom I Marie~DIY Adulation
Erlene~My Pinterventures I Beverly~Across The Blvd. I Debra~Shoppe No. 5 I Victoria~Dazzle While Frazzled
Megan~C’mon Get Crafty I Michelle~Michelle James Designs I Amanda~Domestically Creative
Deborah~Salvage Sister & Mister I Jeanie~Create & Babble I Sherry~Olives & Okra
Jenny~Cookies Coffee & Crafts I Emily~Domestic Deadline I Bonbon~Farmhouse 40
Leanna~Of Faeries & Fauna I Pam Larmore~P.S. I Love You Crafts I Kelly~North Country Nest I
Marie~The Inspiration Vault I Gail~Purple Hues and Me I Lynne~My Family Thyme I
Karen~Dragonfly and Lily Pads I Trisha~Blowing Away Out West Lorrin~Embrace The Perfect Mess I
Terri~Christmas Tree Lane I Sam~Raggedy Bits I Cyn~Creative Cynchronicity Valeria~Val Event Gal
Yami~The Latina Next Door I Jeannee~Centsably Creative I Tania~Little Vintage Cottage
Lauren~Wonderfully Made I Vanessa~DIY 180 I Kimberly~A Wonderful Thought I
Kim~Everyday Parties I Dru~Polka Dot Poplars
Sweet & Salty Chocolate Caramel Nut Clusters Recipe
We make our Caramel from scratch in this nut clusters recipe! You can do it too with our easy recipe. Grab your candy thermometer and lets get started! Scroll down for the printable recipe.
Begin by preparing your baking pans with parchment paper. Then cluster the nuts before you begin making the caramel. We made both Cashew and Pecan Nut Clusters but you can choose whichever one you prefer the most or use both also!
Cooking the Caramel will take around twenty minutes with constant stirring so be prepared.
Be sure to cover every nut with caramel when you begin to drizzle it on. The caramel is the glue which makes the nuts into clusters.
After melting the the chocolate in the microwave you’ll spoon it onto the caramel. Allow to set for about 20 minutes.
Because we want that delectable Sweet & Salty crunchy combo and the pecans are unsalted, we sprinkle them with Sea Salt after spooning the chocolate on top. Go ahead and grab our Sweet & Salty Candied Pecans recipe! They are great as a party food, snack and even on salads.
- 2½ Cups unsalted Pecans
- 2½ Cups lightly salted whole cashews
- 2 Cups packed light brown sugar
- 1 Cup light corn syrup
- 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
- 12 oz. milk chocolate chips
- 1 Cup (2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter (not margarine)
- 1 tsp. shortening
- 1 tsp. caramel extract
- Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Toast the pecans in a skillet over medium heat for several minutes. Stir frequently. This whole process will take less than 5 minutes. Stay with it, they burn easily.
- Arrange pecans onto the parchment paper in clusters of three.
- Arrange 4 or 5 whole cashews onto parchment paper in small clusters
- Time to make the Caramel
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the brown sugar, corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk stirring constantly
- Reduce the heat and continue to stir until it reaches Soft-ball stage between 234°-240°
- Remove from heat and stir in the caramel extract
- Drizzle the caramel over the prepared nuts
- Melt the milk chocolate chips in the microwave at 30 second intervals stirring after each interval
- Add the shortening to the melted milk chocolate and stir to dissolve
- Carefully pour the melted chocolate on top of the caramel covered nuts.
- Allow the chocolate to set.
- Serve and enjoy!
Be sure to visit our fellow 12 Days of Christmas Bloggers below for even more creative ideas this holiday season!
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Shirley Wood
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Oh my gosh – those look AMAZING! mmmmmmm…..
2 Sticks unsalted butter. (1 Cup) Thank you for asking. I have updated the recipe to include that info.
Well these look mouth watering and delicious! You can’t beat the chocolate-caramel combination 🙂
Best,
Kelly
How much butter?
These sound delicious Shirley I love Nut, caramel and chocolate together
Amber Harrop recently posted…Calm Christmas Countdown Meal Planning
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I think these look delicious I like that the nuts are sticking out of them so you see what your eating. Lots of nuts yummy.
Leanna recently posted…A Christmas Tablescape for the Kitchen – Twelve Days of Christmas
Those even LOOK pretty!!
Tania
These look delicious & amazing!
These are definitely going on my to make list for the holidays! Delicious! I love the sweet and salty combo, too.
Beverly recently posted…Cheesy Bacon Bites Party Appetizers
Shirley these look DIVINE!! I definitely pinned this – mainly because they look so good AND easy to make. Love that you could use any type of nuts you want on these. Salty and sweet — is there anything better???
Lauren recently posted…Festive Cranberry Onion Cheeseball