No-Bake Chocolate Clusters
Published Dec. 8, 2021
- Total Time
- 20 minutes, plus chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 6 or 8tablespoons/85 or 113 grams unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 12ounces/340 grams white chocolate bars, chopped, or semisweet chocolate chips
- 4cups/113 grams cornflakes
- 1cup/120 grams moist, plump dried cranberries (see Tip)
- ⅓cup/25 grams unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)
- Fleur de sel or fine sea salt, for finishing
- Sprinkles, for finishing (optional)
Nutritional analysis per serving (40 servings)
88 calories; 5 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 41 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat or with 40 mini-muffin liners.
- Step 2
If you’re using white chocolate, use 6 tablespoons/85 grams butter. For semisweet chocolate, use 8 tablespoons/113 grams butter. Put the butter in a small saucepan, top with the chocolate and cook over very low heat, stirring almost constantly, until smooth. (Alternatively, you can stir in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water or in a microwave-safe bowl in a microwave, stirring in 20-second increments.)
- Step 3
Meanwhile, toss the cornflakes, cranberries and coconut, if using, in a large bowl. Pour over the melted chocolate and gently stir in with a flexible spatula. Some of the cereal will break — it’s inevitable — but keep working until you’ve coated all of the flakes.
- Step 4
Use a medium cookie scoop or two spoons to shape sweets either on the lined baking sheet or in the paper liners. Gently press the mixture into the scoop or a spoon, binding the elements, before releasing the scoop or scraping the mixture off the spoon with another spoon onto the sheet or into the liners. Finish with salt and sprinkles, if using.
- Step 5
Refrigerate or freeze (my preference) for about 30 minutes, or until set, before serving. To keep, cover and refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to a month. These are good straight from the fridge or just a few minutes out of the freezer.
- If you have only dry, sad cranberries, plump them: Cover them with hot water in a bowl, leave for a minute or two, then drain and pat dry. I make these with just cranberries, but you could mix up the add-ins and include unsweetened coconut, snipped dried apricots or cherries, toasted pecans, walnuts or slivered almonds. All together, whatever you add to the cornflakes should be roughly 1 cup/120 grams total.
Private Notes
Comments
My grandmother made a version of these every Christmas, she used dates and pecans in them instead of cranberries, fairly finely chopped, they were my favorite. However, I love cranberries and their tartness, so this year I’ll be trying them over the dates!
my aunt made these in the 50’s using semi sweet chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, salted peanuts and chow mein dry noodles… the name was chinese cookies…i make them now still and have named them “sticks and stones”…the recipe is still on some chocolate chip bags….mound them on waxed paper and put in frigo until cold
I made this gluten free and vegan, and it turned out great! I used a gluten free cornflake from Nature’s Path, they were frosted because that’s all I could find but it still worked. I used vegan butter and vegan chocolate chips. It was a little hard to shape them into balls (they were more lumps), but they stuck together great after 30 minutes in the freezer.
Take this review with a grain of salt as I omitted the coconut and used pretzels instead of cornflakes but these turned out very yummy and delicious!
Love all the suggestions to try different additions. Very adaptable recipe, I made as written except with someone's suggestion to use a Nature's Path cereal and find dark chocolate without dairy added so I could make them vegetarian. The cranberries add a nice tart contrast to the sweet chocolate. No sprinkles so I dusted with powdered sugar, very pretty on the table.
The recipe calls for graham cornflakes. Does this mean Golden Grahams cereal? Can you use regular corn flakes.
Nicelady, I believe "gram" is referring to the metric measurement (when using a scale rather than a measuring cup). By all means, use regular cornflakes. If you're using a measuring cup, 4 cups are called for.
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