No-Bake Chocolate Clusters
- Total Time
- 20 minutes, plus chilling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 6 or 8tablespoons/85 or 113 grams unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 12ounces/340 grams white chocolate bars, chopped, or semisweet chocolate chips
- 4cups/113 grams cornflakes
- 1cup/120 grams moist, plump dried cranberries (see Tip)
- ⅓cup/25 grams unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)
- Fleur de sel or fine sea salt, for finishing
- Sprinkles, for finishing (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat or with 40 mini-muffin liners.
- Step 2
If you’re using white chocolate, use 6 tablespoons/85 grams butter. For semisweet chocolate, use 8 tablespoons/113 grams butter. Put the butter in a small saucepan, top with the chocolate and cook over very low heat, stirring almost constantly, until smooth. (Alternatively, you can stir in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water or in a microwave-safe bowl in a microwave, stirring in 20-second increments.)
- Step 3
Meanwhile, toss the cornflakes, cranberries and coconut, if using, in a large bowl. Pour over the melted chocolate and gently stir in with a flexible spatula. Some of the cereal will break — it’s inevitable — but keep working until you’ve coated all of the flakes.
- Step 4
Use a medium cookie scoop or two spoons to shape sweets either on the lined baking sheet or in the paper liners. Gently press the mixture into the scoop or a spoon, binding the elements, before releasing the scoop or scraping the mixture off the spoon with another spoon onto the sheet or into the liners. Finish with salt and sprinkles, if using.
- Step 5
Refrigerate or freeze (my preference) for about 30 minutes, or until set, before serving. To keep, cover and refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to a month. These are good straight from the fridge or just a few minutes out of the freezer.
- If you have only dry, sad cranberries, plump them: Cover them with hot water in a bowl, leave for a minute or two, then drain and pat dry. I make these with just cranberries, but you could mix up the add-ins and include unsweetened coconut, snipped dried apricots or cherries, toasted pecans, walnuts or slivered almonds. All together, whatever you add to the cornflakes should be roughly 1 cup/120 grams total.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
My grandmother made a version of these every Christmas, she used dates and pecans in them instead of cranberries, fairly finely chopped, they were my favorite. However, I love cranberries and their tartness, so this year I’ll be trying them over the dates!
my aunt made these in the 50’s using semi sweet chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, salted peanuts and chow mein dry noodles… the name was chinese cookies…i make them now still and have named them “sticks and stones”…the recipe is still on some chocolate chip bags….mound them on waxed paper and put in frigo until cold
I made this gluten free and vegan, and it turned out great! I used a gluten free cornflake from Nature’s Path, they were frosted because that’s all I could find but it still worked. I used vegan butter and vegan chocolate chips. It was a little hard to shape them into balls (they were more lumps), but they stuck together great after 30 minutes in the freezer.
These are excellent - I used dried cherries and Trader Joe’s bittersweet chocolate.
I know I will sacrifice the crunch, but I might try with rolled oats.
I remember losing this sweet charming (easy) recipe from an old Parade magazine and thought it was gone forever. So glad to have a version of it back, thank you!
I made these with corn chex so that they were gluten free. Very tasty!
I used dark chocolate chips and a mix of diced dried apricots and cranberries, and dried pecans. They were easy and delicious and I will definitely be making them again.
In the no bake realm, my go to are Chinese noodle cookies. A bag of thin Chinese noodles, a bag of melted (over a double boiler) semisweet chocolate chips and a handful or two of peanuts. Stir to mix, drop by heaping teaspoon-fulls on parchment, wax paper or no-stick aluminum foil, let set and serve. Each one looks different and interesting. Never refrigerate or they turn dusky.
Going back 40 years ago, my aunt used to make these but she had the pastel fruity mini-marshmallows in them too. As kids, we would look forward to that tin every Christmas! Gooey, chocolatey, crunchy bliss.
I think fresh cranberries would be too tart/bitter.
Loved these! Added sea salt flakes on the top and they are the perfect combination of sweet, crunchy and salty. Two batches made up all the cookies I needed to take to the cookie exchange. They were a real hit.
Just ridiculously good. First to go at a cookie exchange! I think simple is best- cornflakes and chocolate
These are awesome - especially for the level of effort. I used a scale for everything because my baking is a disaster otherwise, and a couple of soup spoons to scrape these into mounds before they set up. The second time I used raisins and some milk chocolate, as a riff on Glossettes. So good!
Hard to shape into balls so spooned them out as others said in the notes but they came out really big! and very crumbly. Not sure I will make again.
I used milk chocolate chips. 2# of milk chocolate chips and it still isn’t enough to completely coat 4 cups of cornflakes. Not sure why. Next time I will use scale measurements.
My mother was making these same candies 70 years ago. She added shredded coconut to the chocolate and corn flakes. I’ve been making them for more than fifty years, without the coconut. They’re the first treats our kids and grandchildren look for when the come for Christmas.
Instead of 4 cups of cornflakes, I subbed 1 cup of broken pretzels to 3 cups of cornflakes. I love the saltiness they added.
My mom made these all the time. She used chow mein noodles instead of corn flakes & did not add anything else. We called them haystacks.
We used to make something similar back in the 1950s using fried chow mein noodles. Cookies were called haystacks.
Easy, has chewy, crunchy, salty, yum!
I followed the recipe closely, as this was my first attempt. I couldn’t get the mixture to form into clusters to save my life. I added a half cup more cornflakes and a quarter cup more coconut, hoping a dryer mix might work. Finally, I decided to put this whole thing into a pan to chill and cut into squares once set.
This is an okay recipe. I needed to chill the mixture for an hour to even attempt to get the clusters together. Using my hands, which were rinsed in cold water, was the only way I could form clusters. I may try to repurpose these into a more cookie-like item.
How many cookies does this recipe make? When you say "medium scoop," are you referring to the 1 tablespoon size? How do you freeze them--wrap each separately? Dried cranberries can be sweetened or unsweetened (the latter is bitter). I assume you mean "dried sweetened." Lotsa of questions before I attempt anything new--- From recent experiences, I've learned to garner as much info as possible before I charge ahead. All the comments shared by others are greatly appreciated.
A great cookie to make with youngsters-- can be made, set and cleaned up after in a fat hour. Do not skimp on the berries and coconut.
I used dark chocolate chips and a mix of diced dried apricots and cranberries, and dried pecans. They were easy and delicious and I will definitely be making them again.
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