Chocolate Nut Clusters

Three ingredients and about five minutes of active work. Milk chocolate chips melted with a touch of shortening, pecans stirred in, and the mixture spooned into paper candy cups. Refrigerate, peel, eat.

The shortening is the key to a smooth, glossy melt. It thins the chocolate just enough so it flows around the pecans and fills the candy cups evenly. Without it, melted chips set up thick and dull.

Microwaving in short bursts and stirring between is the way to go. Chocolate scorches easily, and burned chocolate is bitter and grainy with no way to fix it. Start checking at one minute and stir until smooth.

Using broken pecan pieces rather than halves gives you a better nut-to-chocolate ratio in each cluster. Every bite gets crunch.

Kitchen Tips

• Don’t overfill the cups. Half full is the target. Overfilled clusters don’t set properly in the center.
• Use paper candy cups or mini muffin liners. The chocolate peels cleanly from paper. Silicone works too but paper looks more like a real candy shop piece.
• Store in the refrigerator. Milk chocolate has a lower melting point than dark, and these will soften at room temperature on a warm day.

Variations

• Dark chocolate: Swap milk chocolate chips for semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips for a less sweet, more intense cluster.
• Mixed nut: Use a combination of pecans, walnuts, and almonds for more variety in each bite.
• Sea salt finish: Sprinkle a few flakes of sea salt on top of each cluster before refrigerating for a sweet-salty contrast.