Do-it-yourself chocolate Christmas candy is the perfect gift for teachers, co-workers, and secret Santa parties! This easy recipe requires chocolate chips, silicone holiday treat molds and just 5 minutes! Making these Christmas chocolates is a fun holiday tradition for you and your kids to do year after year.
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These chocolate Christmas candy characters are almost too cute to eat. Dark chocolate is definitely my favorite, but milk and white chocolate are delicious too.
They are perfect for gifting to various people on your gift list, like the postman, salon receptionist, bus drivers, and the like. So this year skip the lotions, body sprays, and bath bombs, and give the gift of cute chocolate indulgence!
To make chocolate Christmas candy, you need silicone molds and chocolate.
I use silicone molds from Holiday Helpers. You can find them on Amazon, or stores like Bed Bath and Beyond, Christmas Tree Shops, etc.
You can use milk chocolate, white chocolate, or dark chocolate to make chocolate Christmas, but make sure to fully read the tips and times below for melting chocolate.
🍫 How To Melt Chocolate
This no-fuss chocolate Christmas candy recipe is very simple. I don't worry about heating the chocolate to a certain temperature, then cooling it, and then heating it again (known as tempering).
Honestly, this requires too much of my time during the busy holiday rush of shopping, cooking, wrapping, decorating, plus the non-holiday daily to-dos.
When I have melted and tempered chocolate in the past, the only difference to me was the glossiness of the final product.
But these adorable little snowmen and reindeer are cute whether they are a matte or gloss chocolate brown.
Heating 1 cup of chocolate chips requires microwaving between 1 and 2 minutes on high, depending on your microwave and the kind of chocolate. Put the chocolate chips in a measuring glass and heat in 30 second increments, stirring in between. Once the chocolate reaches 130 degrees, you are ready to pour into the molds.
It only takes a few seconds to go from a perfectly pourable chocolate to a burnt one. Microwave the chocolate in 30 second increments for the first minute. If it's not fully melted after 1 minute, continue to heat it but this time in 10 second increments.
You should also stir the chocolate after each heating increment. This helps the unmelted chips to melt into the warm spots.
You'll know the chocolate is burnt when it hardens in pockets. White chocolate burns quickly, so as soon as you see a hard spot, stop heating.
🎄 Chocolate Heating Times
- milk chocolate: approximately 2 minutes
- dark chocolate: 60 seconds
- white chocolate: 90 seconds
🔪 Instructions
Making chocolate Christmas candy requires 3 easy steps.
First, melt your choice of chocolate in the microwave.
Next, pour into the holiday molds.
You can either pour or scoop the chocolate into the molds with a spoon. Once all cavities are filled, scrape excess chocolate off using a lasagna cutter. This will level out the back of the chocolate. You should also gently shake the molds and tap on the counter to remove air bubbles.
Keep in mind that pouring the chocolate into the molds can be a bit messy. It's inevitable no matter how much you try to prevent it, especially if you're doing this with kids. Wear an apron!
Last, let cool in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
To remove the chocolate from the molds, gently twist the mold back and forth like you would when trying to loosen ice cube trays. Gently pop out each candy and enjoy!
📖 Variations
You can get pretty creative and add a variety of fruit and nuts to your chocolate Christmas candy.
You can crush or chop the below additions and add to your chocolate once it's melted.
Milk Chocolate Additions
- pretzels
- almonds
- peanuts
- cherries
- coconut
Dark Chocolate Additions
- sea salt
- almonds
- hazelnuts
- cherries
- mint
- espresso beans
White Chocolate Additions
- sea salt
- cranberries
- hazelnuts
- macadamia nuts
For more ideas, She Knows has a quick and to-the-point article on chocolate pairings.
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Christmas Candy
Equipment
- silicone holiday molds
Ingredients
- 1 cup chocolate chips (white, dark, milk, or semisweet)
Instructions
- In 30 second increments, melt the chocolate on high in the microwave, stirring in between.
- Pour into molds and scrape the excess chocolate off with a pie or lasagna cutter.
- Cool in the fridge for 20 minutes or more. Pop chocolates out of molds and store in fridge if not serving immediately.
Nutrition
🍽 Storing
Since the chocolates will soften when left at room temperature, I store mine in the fridge until I'm ready to gift. Or, if I've made them for a holiday party or dinner, I'll leave them in the fridge until about an hour before serving.
I hope you enjoyed learning how to make chocolate Christmas candy! If you've made it, let me know how it turned out in the comments below.
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Delicious! These might be a little more work than I’m willing to put forth, but I’m lazy! I was fortunate enough to sample these. They weren’t too sweet, which was a bonus! Also I normally don’t care for white chocolate, but I enjoyed these! They’re so cute!