If you’re running out of time for Christmas treats and need something easy — and I do mean easy — make our Christmas Chocolate Nonpareils recipe. This three ingredient dessert comes together in just a handful of minutes.
For more ideas of things to make, check out all of our desserts.
When I was young, Sno-Caps were the candy that always felt so fancy to me. I’m pretty sure I only ever saw them at the movie theater, and we never bought movie theater snacks. So Sno-Caps always felt like a real treat.
So, imagine my surprise when I found out how incredible easy it is to make nonpareils candy.
The homemade version isn’t exactly the same as Sno-Caps. Because with Sno-Caps, the tiny round sprinkles are on top of the chocolate, making the white of the snow-capped mountain. With our homemade chocolate nonpareils, the sprinkles are on the bottom of the mountain because, well, that’s easier to make at home.
We’re calling these Christmas chocolate nonpareils because it’s Christmastime so we used Christmas sprinkles to make them. But, you could use any color nonpareil to make them for any holiday.
A mason jar filled with Christmas nonpareils would be such a great gift for give your friends or neighbors this holiday season. If you’re looking for ideas of what to pair with it, check out our list of Edible Gifts For Christmas for some more inspiration.
Christmas Chocolate Nonpareils Recipe
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Christmas Chocolate Nonpareils Ingredients:
- Christmas nonpareil sprinkles (red, white, and green nonpareils sprinkles)
- 1 square (2 oz.) chocolate almond bark
- 1 square (2 oz.) vanilla almond bark
How To Make Christmas Chocolate Nonpareils:
Pour a single layer of Christmas nonpareil sprinkles at the bottom of a bread pan.
Quick note: I use a small bread pan for this, as noted above. Many similar recipes suggest that you use a baking sheet. And that’s fine. It’ll work. But you’ll need so much more nonpareil candy to fill the bottom of the baking tray. And then, getting the unused candy back into the container will result in so many tiny sprinkles all over your kitchen.
Using a bread pan, with its smaller surface and much higher walls, is much easier.
Put the chocolate almond bark in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave it for a minute, then take it out and stir the melted chocolate. If it’s not fully melted, put it back at 30 second intervals until it’s completely melted.
Put the melted chocolate into a piping bag with a #10 piping tip attached.
I usually say that a frugal alternative to piping bags and tips is to cut the corner of a plastic Ziploc bag and use that. I don’t recommend that in this case. The bag will be too flimsy and you won’t be able to make round circles, which are ideal for classic nonpareils.
Use the piping bag to pipe round circles of chocolate directly onto the candy sprinkles.
Be careful to not apply too much pressure because then you’ll be moving the sprinkles unintentionally and you’ll end up with chocolate on the bottom rather than sprinkles.
Continue until you’re either out of melted chocolate or out of space.
Allow the chocolate to cool and harden. Then, use an icing knife to easily move the chocolate candies out of the bread pan and onto a separate plate.
If you don’t have an icing knife, you could use a rubber spatula instead. That might just not be as dainty as using an icing knife (which is much smaller).
Add more sprinkles to the bottom of the bread pan.
If you have more chocolate almond bark, you can remelt it. Then, continue piping it until it’s done.
When you’re out of chocolate almond bark, melt the vanilla almond bark.
Continue piping until you’re out of chocolate and sprinkles.
When they’ve cooled to room temperature, you can pack the nonpareils into mason jars or cellophane bags tied with a ribbon.
The number of chocolate this yields is based on the size of your piped circles. But, for reference, we were able to make about four dozen little candies from 4 oz. of almond bark.
Christmas Chocolate Nonpareils: Frequently Asked Questions
If you have leftover sprinkles, you absolutely can reuse them.
Take a piece of paper and form it into a cone. Put that into the top of your sprinkle container. Very carefully, pour the sprinkles from the bread pan into the paper. They’ll fall right back into your container and you can use them for any other sweet treats you’re making.
You can definitely use chocolate chips to make nonpareils. High quality chocolate chips are best, since the majority of what you’re tasting will be those chocolate chips.
The only hiccup you might run into when using chocolate chips is that once the chocolate hardens, that’s it. You can’t remelt it like you can remelt chocolate almond bark. If you think you might work a little slower, stir a little bit of coconut oil into your melted chocolate chips. That’ll give you a smooth melt and keep them liquid-y for longer.
Also, you want to be careful when you’re melting chocolate chips. You don’t want to over-melt and burn them. That’s why it’s recommended that you melt them on the top of a double boiler rather than microwaving them. Almond bark does fine in the microwave, making this a much easier treat.
If you wanted to make these different colors, you could use candy melts since those candy discs come in a ton of colors. But, in my opinion, those don’t taste great. And since the majority of what you’re tasting would be the candy melts, I wouldn’t recommend them.
If you needed a color, you can use gel food coloring (not water based food coloring) to tint vanilla almond bark.
Store them in an airtight container in a cool place. We keep ours on the counter, which is fine because our kitchen is cool during the winter.
If yours isn’t, you can store them in the fridge, although that’s not really necessary.
Nonpareils chocolate will last up to three weeks as long as they’re kept in an airtight container.
Nonpareil is actually a French term for the tiny round sprinkles that are used in this recipe. It’s not actually the term for the finished product (sprinkle-lined chocolate discs). So, using anything else on the bottom of the chocolate wouldn’t actually be considered chocolate nonpareils anymore.
But, with that being said, I always say, you do you. Make your treats however you want. So if you want to crush a candy cane to try and make a peppermint version, go right ahead. Pulverize some nuts and use that as a base for a delightful crunch.
Honestly, I have no idea how those two suggestions would come out at all, but that’s the fun of experimenting in the kitchen.
You don’t.
Usually, when I’m writing a recipe for chocolate treats, I tell you to line the pan with a silicone baking mat, wax paper, or parchment paper so that the chocolate will easily pop off when it hardens. In the case of these chocolate nonpareils, the sprinkles are a barrier between the chocolate and the pan.
So, as long as you don’t apply too much pressure (so the chocolate doesn’t go between the sprinkles and touch the pan), you don’t need an additional barrier.
More Christmas Chocolate Ideas:
If you’re looking for some more holiday treats to make to go along with these, try our Chocolate Christmas Tree Pretzel Sticks and our Reindeer Chocolate Bark Recipe.
Christmas Chocolate Nonpareils
If you’re running out of time for Christmas treats and need something easy — and I do mean easy — make our Christmas Chocolate Nonpareils recipe. This three ingredient dessert comes together in just a handful of minutes.
Ingredients
- Christmas nonpareil sprinkles (red, white, and green nonpareils sprinkles)
- 1 square (2 oz.) chocolate almond bark
- 1 square (2 oz.) vanilla almond bark
Instructions
- Pour a single layer of Christmas nonpareil sprinkles at the bottom of a bread pan.
- Put the chocolate almond bark in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave it for a minute, then take it out and stir the melted chocolate.
- Put the melted chocolate into a piping bag with a #10 piping tip attached.
- Use the piping bag to pipe round circles of chocolate directly onto the candy sprinkles.
- Continue until you’re either out of melted chocolate or out of space.
- Allow the chocolate to cool and harden. Then, use an icing knife to easily move the chocolate candies out of the bread pan and onto a separate plate.
- Add more sprinkles to the bottom of the bread pan.
- If you have more chocolate almond bark, you can remelt it. Then, continue piping it until it’s done.
- When you’re out of chocolate almond bark, melt the vanilla almond bark and continue until you’re out of chocolate and sprinkles.
- When they’ve cooled to room temperature, you can pack the nonpareils into mason jars or cellophane bags tied with a ribbon.
Notes
Be careful to not apply too much pressure because then you’ll be moving the sprinkles unintentionally and you’ll end up with chocolate on the bottom rather than sprinkles.
Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 3Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 1mgCarbohydrates 0gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 0g
Have you made these Christmas Chocolate Nonpareils? Let us know how it went in the comments.
nancy
Friday 22nd of December 2023
everything looks so good