Oh, I burn, I pine, I perish.

Before I get carried away, waxing lyrical about my deep adoration of these sweet, tasty snacks, let me give you a bit of background. There are whole stalls dedicated to the nuts, which have a sprawling selection of different nuts and flavours of sugar coating. My favourite are the classic cinnamon sugar ones. When you buy them, they are scooped from their trays into paper cones, which I always end up opening immediately and eating as I walk around the rest of the stalls. Ah, good times.

Sometimes though, it’s not possible to go to a Christmas Market. Whether that’s because of a global pandemic, a reluctance to brave the inevitable crowds or some other reason, we don’t have to miss out on our annual dosage of the cinnamon sugar nuts. Very similar ones can be made, very easily, at home- I’ve been doing it for years now and today I’m sharing the recipe that I use with you! It’s a slightly adapted version of this one.

One quick note before we get into the recipe: I tend to use metric measurements (grams, litres etc.) when baking. However, I have given the ingredients for this recipe in cups. This is to make it easier to adapt for different types/sizes of nut.

The first thing you’ll need is nuts. My favourites are pecans, but you can use whichever is your favourite or do a mix like I have done here. I used pecans, cashews and almonds. Do bear in mind that if you use a mixture of small nuts and larger nuts (for example, if you were to use brazil nuts and hazelnuts), the smaller nuts may burn before the larger nuts are done. You might want to do the two nuts separately. I would also suggest using blanched nuts, if you are using nuts like hazelnuts or almonds.

Alongside your nuts, you’ll need granulated sugar, light brown soft sugar, cinnamon, salt, vanilla extract, an egg white and water.

Preparing the nuts is actually really easy! You just whisk together the dry ingredients (both sugars, the cinnamon and the salt) and set aside. Then, in a large bowl, you whisk the egg white with the water and vanilla until frothy. You mix the nuts into the egg mixture until they are coated, then mix the dry ingredients in. The nuts then go onto a baking tray, ready for the oven.

Before they go into the oven, the nuts will look like this- coated in a slushy, deep brown mixture. During baking, the sugars will crystallise onto the nuts and the nuts themselves will toast, leaving you with nuts that are a deep gold colour and have a crunchy, pale coating.

In order to ensure that the nuts are evenly coated in the sugar, you need to give them a stir every 10-15 minutes. It’s a bit of extra work, but it really does make a difference!

After 15 minutes, the nuts will look a little something like this. You can see that in some places the sugar has melted, while in others it has crystallised slightly.

After another 15 minutes, most of the sugar will have crystallised. However, the nuts will still be quite pale (in the above photo, you can see this more easily with the cashews and almonds). The nuts need a little while longer in the oven to really toast and become golden.

5-10 minutes more and you can see that the sugar has completely crystallised and that the almonds and cashews are now a deep golden colour. The nuts are ready, but need to cool completely before you can dig in. If you want the nuts to be slightly less toasty, bake them for slightly less time at this stage- I would suggest about 5-10 minutes, instead of 15.

The nuts will keep for about a month if kept in an airtight container at room temperature. I love them, just as they are, as a snack, but you can also serve them on salads, on a cheeseboard, or as decoration on cakes/desserts. I hope you love them as much as I do!

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Copycat Christmas Market Nuts

Roasted nuts covered in a crunchy cinnamon sugar coating. Perfect for Christmastime snacking, baking, garnishing and gifting.

Course Snack

Keyword Candy, Christmas, Cinnamon, Nuts

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Author Gemma

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 egg white
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp water
• 4 cups mixed nuts I used 1/2 cup (85g) blanched almonds, 1 1/2 cups (195g) cashews and 2 cups (200g) pecans

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 150°C. Line a rimmed baking tray with greaseproof paper. Set aside.
• Whisk together both sugars, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk egg white with vanilla and water until frothy. Add the nuts and mix with a spatula until well-coated.
• Tip the sugar mixture into the nuts and mix again, until nuts are evenly-coated. Transfer nuts onto a baking tray, making sure they are in a single, even layer. Bake for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes, until deep golden and crystallised.
• Allow nuts to cool completely before eating, packaging or storing. Nuts will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about a month.

A few things to note before we get into it:

• Traditionally, peppermint bark uses dark chocolate instead of the milk chocolate I use here. My excuse for this is that I have an excessively sweet tooth! Milk chocolate is just my preference. Having said that, my family members have a significantly lower tolerance for sweetness and they love this bark just as much as I do. Of course, if you would rather use dark chocolate, go ahead!
• I am by NO means a professional chocolatier! In the recipe card below, I have given quite vague instructions (‘melt (and temper) the chocolate’). In the following section of this post I tell you how I do this. While my method does produce a bark that sets at room temperature and has a lovely snap, I haven’t quite nailed achieving the shiny finish (not that it really matters… the bark still looks very pretty)! I have read that it can be more difficult to temper smaller quantities of chocolate. Maybe that’s my problem! If you have your own method for tempering chocolate that works well for you, use that instead (and please tell me all about it!).
• I haven’t included any servings/dimensions for this recipe. It is a very adaptable, customisable process, so you can make as much or as little as you want, make more smaller shards or fewer larger shards- whatever you want! The quantities given below make about 360g of bark.

Anyway, let’s get into the recipe!

The first thing you need to do is crush the candy canes. I like to do this in a mortar and pestle, but you can also use a ziplock bag and a rolling pin. You want to aim for a variety in texture- some dust, some small pieces. Keep all of the pieces relatively small to make the bark easier to eat later.

Once you have your crushed candy canes, you can move on to melting (and tempering…) your chocolate. Tempering can be a bit of an involved process, but it’s worth it to get a finished product with a beautiful snap. Tempering your chocolate also means you can keep the bark at room temperature and that it will melt in your mouth, just like chocolate should!

I melt and temper my chocolate using a microwave. I start by melting the chocolate for 1 minute at a time on the lowest setting, stirring in between each blast. You want your chocolate to be completely melted and to be at the correct melting temperature. I use the following temperatures for tempering:

Once you have reached the correct melting temperature for your chocolate, you need to cool the chocolate back down to its cooling temperature. As the chocolate cools, I stir it frequently to agitate the molecules, which helps with the tempering process.

When the chocolate has cooled sufficiently, I place it back into the microwave for about 10 seconds, still on the lowest setting, to bring it back up to the ‘tempered’ temperature. You need to work quickly at this stage, because the chocolate needs to be used while it is ‘in temper’ (i.e. at the ‘tempered’ temperature)!

Now you have your tempered chocolate, you can pour it onto a lined baking tray and spread it out into a thin, even layer. You the need to set it aside to harden while you repeat the process with the white chocolate.

Do you see what I was talking about earlier? My chocolate is perfectly hard and snappy at this point, but it just doesn’t have that beautiful shine you see on professional chocolates! Ah well, there is always another mountain to climb. Let me know if you have any tips and tricks of your own when it comes to tempering chocolate!

Anyway, as I said, you now need to repeat this process with the white chocolate. Yes, I know, how tedious! I promise it will be worth it in the end, though.

So, again, melting, tempering and then spreading the white chocolate into a thin layer, this time right on top of that now-hardened layer of milk chocolate.

Now, working quickly so that the candy canes have time to stick to the chocolate before it sets, you need to sprinkle the crushed candy canes all over the surface of the bark.

You should end up with a slab of chocolate that looks something like this. So pretty! You’ll want to let it set for about 30 minutes, so that it has enough time to harden completely. Once it has set, you can snap it into shards.

And then you’re done! You can eat it, store it at room temperature, or package it up and give it as gifts. I can guarantee it won’t last long, whatever you do!

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Peppermint Bark

Layers of milk and white chocolate, sprinkled with crushed candy canes: a perfect, festive treat!

Course Snack

Keyword Candy, Chocolate, Christmas, Peppermint

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Setting Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Author Gemma

Equipment

• Digital thermometer
• Mortar and pestle
• Baking tray, greaseproof paper, spatula, microwave safe bowl

Ingredients

• 180 g Milk chocolate
• 180 g White chocolate
• 2 Candy canes

Instructions

• Line the baking tray with greaseproof paper. Set aside.
• Crush the candy canes using a mortar and pestle. Aim for a mix of fine dust and small pieces.
• Melt (and temper) the milk chocolate. Spread it onto the lined tray in a thin, smooth layer. Set aside at room temperature to set.
• While the milk chocolate layer sets, melt (and temper) the white chocolate. Pour over the hardened milk chocolate layer and spread out to the edges. Working quickly, sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the chocolate. Set aside at room temperature and allow to harden completely, about 30 mins.
• Once the peppermint bark has hardened completely, break into shards. The bark can now be stored at room temperature, packaged into bags and given as gifts, or enjoyed immediately!