Crock-Pot Cooking: Christmas Candy Recipes

Save money this Christmas and make these gorgeous homemade Christmas candy stocking treats in your slow cooker for all the people you love.

I love Christmas! I love getting all wrapped up in my hat, gloves and scarf, and then wandering up and down the high street in and out of all the crowds to do my Christmas shopping, and smelling the Christmas aroma of roasted chestnuts from street vendors. What I’m not quite fond of though, after my winter shopping trip is over, is the enormous hole it leaves in my wallet! This is where that yummy sweet roasted chestnut aroma began to inspire me…

When I was younger, we didn’t have modest sized stockings that hung on the fireplace waiting for Santa to fill them up with toys and candy; no, my mum gave us each a black bin liner for the end of our beds, and by Christmas morning they were brimming with second hand goodies from charity shops.

My mum would always tell me stories about what Christmas was like for her as a child coming from a very poor family. She had a tiny sock that usually had an orange stuffed inside with some nuts, along with some form of amusement for Christmas day such as dice or a yoyo.

It got me thinking about how much money we waste today on gifts that have no use or entertainment that lasts beyond Christmas Day. We buy pointless novelty gifts, when really, you can show you care with much less, especially when you take the time and effort to create something for your loved ones with your own imagination.

Everybody appreciates sweet treats for the holidays, and what’s more, anything edible will get eaten! Here is how you can make enough yummy Christmas treats for everyone you know, and hardly spend any money at all, using my simple Christmas candy recipes!

What is crock-pot candy?

Chocolate Candy with Nut Filling

Your slow cooker is the ideal place to gently melt down chocolate so that you can stir together a yummy mixture of sweet goodies, which can then be left to set in small paper cupcake or truffle cups to make tiny individual sweet treats, perfect for wrapping up in pretty paper cones with lots of swirly ribbon, or posh gift boxes and tissue paper for even more Christmas impact!

The great thing about crock-pot candy is that you can really get creative and pop whatever you like into the mixture! You can make each individual treat look extra pretty and special by topping them with all sorts of edible goodies while they are setting too!

I have included a basic recipe later on in the article to get you started, with extra ideas for alternative ingredients to include in your mixture, plus a list of topping ideas and presentation inspiration.

How to make crock-pot Christmas candy

Source
Source

Here is the basic recipe, but remember, this is an easy recipe to adapt to your own preferences, so feel free to add whatever you fancy to the mix! Just make sure you try to follow the layering guidelines with nuts at the bottom to prevent other ingredients from burning, and always use a LOW setting on your crock-pot.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup chopped hazelnuts (you could use any nuts you like)
  • 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 1/2 pounds white almond bark, white candy melting disks or white chocolate chips
  • *optional 3/4 cup Nutella
  • *optional 1 cup toffee bits

Recipe:

  1. In a 4 quart crock-pot layer nuts, semi-sweet chocolate and almond bark or candy melts. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.
  1. When 3 hours is up, stir all the ingredients together and swirl Nutella in, if desired.
  1. Line 2 mini muffin pans with liners and drop by heaping tablespoon into liners.
  1. Sprinkle with toffee bits, if desired.

 

More Topping Ideas…

  • Mini Marshmallows (The kind you get for hot chocolate drinks)
  • Glittery or heart/star/leaf shaped cupcake toppings
  • Chocolate droplets in a contrasting colour, arranged neatly on top
  • Dried fruit (Banana, peach, raisins…)
  • Hundreds and thousands cake sprinkles
  • Crumbled ginger biscuit
  • Top with a dollop of coloured icing
  • Dust with icing sugar
  • Top with a generous sprinkle of coconut flakes
  • Crushed smarties for colour and crunch

Inspiration for gift presentation

  1. Show off your pretty Christmas candy treats by displaying them in clear cellophane giftwrap. You can create candy cones and then tie the top with a fancy ribbon and a gift tag with a personalized message.
  1. Purchase or make your own posh or cutesy gift boxes out of card. You can line the inside with coloured tissue to protect your treats and tie the lid on with Christmas ribbon. You can use different shaped boxes for different effects. For example, a longer box lined with cupcake cases will look like an elegant gift box of truffles!
  1. Make your own Christmas cracker gift box using the cardboard cylinder from a toilet roll, and wrap it like a cracker with Christmas paper and ribbon at each end.
  1. Cut out large foil circles and place each treat separately in the centre before gathering the foil at the top in a twist. Then present them in a see-through coloured organza drawstring gift bag.
  1. Purchase empty glass air-tight jars from your local household pound store, or wash out old jam jars. Fill with your crock-pot treats and screw on the lid, then make your own Christmas top with a circular piece of wrapping paper folded over the lid and secured with a swirly Christmas ribbon.

Share your own presentation and candy ideas

What extra ingredients are you adding to your Christmas crock-pot candy? What inspiring ideas do you have for wrapping them up as a gift for your family and friends? Share your ideas here and let others know how their ideas have inspired you!

Cover photo: http://hannahholzmann.com

About the author

Zara M.

I love to write, draw, take photographs, dance tango, write in my Midori Traveler’s Notebook and ogle other people’s Filofaxes. Oh – and I like LOTS of sugar in my tea! I want to inspire you, and show you the world through my eyes.

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