Chocolate Nut Clusters

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Published on December 13, 2024 by Steve Cylka

These easy to make, homemade chocolate nut clusters, combine creamy milk chocolate with a delicious mix of pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and peanuts for the perfect sweet-and-savory treat.

I make chocolate candy cups every Christmas. They are great for gifts, bringing to work and spreading on a cookie platter for friends and family gatherings. These chocolate nut clusters are one of my favourites as the creamy chocolate and crunchy mixed nuts go so well together.

What Makes These Candy Melts So Good?

Homemade nut clusters made with milk chocolate and a blend of mixed nuts are so good.

Creamy and Rich – Milk chocolate is smooth, creamy and the perfect complement for crunchy nuts.
Diverse Nut Combination: Using a variety of nuts adds complexity to the taste profile and each nut gives a different flavour.
Homemade Goodness: While you can buy nut clusters at many stores, there is something extra special about these homemade treats.
Easy To Make – With just a few ingredients, these candy cups are simple and quick to make.
Great To Share – I love making these along with some other varieties (recipe links below) and then package them to gift to family and friends.

Ingredient Notes

These candy melts do not take many ingredients and I pick up everything I need at the local bulk store.

Milk Chocolate Melts – I find that round candy melt wafers are best for this recipe. They melt easy and are not hard to bite into. If you prefer, you could use milk chocolate chips.
Nuts – I like to use a mix of different nuts. Typically, I have pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and peanuts.

Expert Tip: While you can purchase roasted nuts, if you buy raw or blanched nuts, it is good to roast them briefly in the oven to give the nuts a nice toasty flavour.

How To Melt Chocolate Melts

Fill a saucepan with 1-2 inches of water, You could also use the bottom of a double boiler.
Place a heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan (or the top of the double boiler), ensuring the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. I like to use a glass bowl.
Add the milk chocolate candy melts to the bowl or double boiler.
Heat the saucepan over medium heat. The steam from the simmering water will gently heat the bowl above.
Allow the candy melts to gradually melt and make sure to stir occasionally with a silicone spatula or a wooden spoon.

Chopped nuts in a bowl with melted chocolate.

Add Nuts

Once the chocolate is melted and smooth you can add the roughly chopped nuts.

Different Mix-ins? Instead of nuts there are so many different ingredients that you could mix into the melted chocolate. You could add various other kinds of candy, gummies, dried fruit, nuts, pretzels and so much more!

Spooning melted chocolate and nuts in a paper cup liner.

Spoon Into Cups

Now it’s time to spoon the melted chocolate and nuts into mini cups. I use paper candy cup liners placed in a mini muffin tray. This will keep them steady and maintain their shape as I fill them with the melted chocolate.

Expert Tip: I use two spoons: one to scoop up the melted chocolate and mixed nuts, and the other to gently scrape the melted chocolate into the liners.

Chocolate candy cups in mini muffin tray.

Fill each cup liner until they are about 3/4 full. Then let them cool to harden.

Chocolate candies surrounded by mixed nuts.

More Candy Cup Recipes

White Chocolate Gumdrop Cups – Dot gumdrop candies mixed in with white chocolate for a fun and festive treat!
Candy Cane White Chocolate Cups – White chocolate mixed with crushed shortbread and topped with some crushed candy canes. This is a perfect Christmas treat!
Chocolate With Almonds and Dried Blueberries – This is the perfect combination. Dark chocolate, dried fruit and nuts go so well together.
Chocolate Mint Oreo Cups – These candy cups have crushed Oreo cookies, along with melted chocolate and mint flavouring. So good!