Here are 7 easy no bake recipes for Christmas Candies your kids can make! Christmas is a great time for fun family traditions and kids love to get involved in making treats, decorating and making and wrapping gifts for everyone!
In our family we love to make Christmas Candies! I’m chronically ill and just don’t have the energy to spend hours baking cookies so I like recipes that you can make and be done and out of the kitchen in 30 minutes or less. All these Christmas Candies are easy for the kids to make and you can supervise without wearing yourself out!
7 No Bake Christmas Candy Recipes Kids Can Make
Homemade Gum Drops Recipe
- Yield: Makes 64 pieces
Ingredients
1 cup applesauce*
1 cup sugar
1 sm. pkg. fruit gelatin (3 oz.)
extra sugar for coating
Instructions
- Combine applesauce and sugar in a saucepan.
- Bring to a boil.
- Cook 2 minutes.
- Dissolve the gelatin in the applesauce mixture.
- Pour into an 8×8 inch pan.
- After 24 hours, cut into 1 inch squares and roll in sugar.
- Roll in the sugar a second time 24 hours later.
Notes
This recipe is called Applesauce Candy in our Dining on A Dime Cookbook, Volume 1.
*You can use pureed fruit cocktail, peaches or pears instead of applesauce if you prefer.
Christmas Nougat Candy Recipe
Festive, fun, and oh-so-easy to make, this easy Christmas Nougat Candy recipe makes the ultimate holiday treat! Creamy, chewy, and studded with bright red and green candies, each bite is a sweet celebration of the season. Perfect for adding to your holiday dessert platter, gifting to friends and family, or simply enjoying with a cup of cocoa. This recipe comes together quickly with just a few ingredients, making it a stress-free way to spread holiday cheer!
Ingredients
2 (10 oz.) bags marshmallows
2 Tbsp butter
2 cups (2 boxes) Dots Candy
Instructions
- Cut each of the dots candy pieces in half.
- Butter or line with parchment paper 8×8 inch baking pan.
- Melt white chips, marshmallows and butter; Stir until blended.
- If using a microwave melt in 30 second increments until smooth. Stir after each microwaving.
- When blended, quickly add in all but 2 tablespoons of Dots candy and spread into pan with your fingers.
- Decorate the top with the reserved Dots.
- Let set up 4 hours to overnight.
Easy 2 Ingredient Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Ingredients
1 pkg. pretzels*
1 pkg. melting white, dark, milk chocolate or almond bark (or 1 bag chocolate or white chocolate chips)
Candy sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
- Melt chocolate, almond bark, or chocolate chips in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl. Melt in 30 second increments, stirring after each 30 seconds. (You can also melt in the top of a double boiler if you prefer.)
- When the chocolate is melted, dip pretzels in the chocolate to cover and set on waxed paper or silpat to harden. You can put them in the freezer for a few minutes to speed up the hardening process.
- If you want to use the candy sprinkles, sprinkle them over the pretzels before the chocolate hardens.
Notes
*You may use fortune cookies or Oreo cookies instead of pretzels.
Chocolate Covered Oreos
Oreo Cookies
12 oz. melting chocolate (wafers or almond bark)
Melt chocolate in microwave, stirring every 20 seconds. When melted dip Oreos halfway or all the way into chocolate and lay on waxed paper or silpat to harden. You can put them in the freezer for a few minutes to speed up the hardening process.
Peppermint Marshmallows
38-40 large marshmallows
1 package white chocolate coating
5-6 Peppermints crushed
Place marshmallows on a pan that is covered with wax paper and place in the freezer. They will be ready by the time you need to dip them.
Pour crushed peppermints in bowl.
Melt chocolate in microwave for a couple of minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until melted.
Place frozen marshmallows on skewer or tooth pick and dip in white chocolate and then in roll in peppermints.
Use a fork to slide them back on the wax paper. Chill.
2 Ingredient Easy Fudge Recipe
Ingredients
3 cups chocolate chips*
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp. butter (optional)
Instructions
- Place parchment paper in an 8×8 inch baking pan and spray with cooking spray or grease with butter.
- Pour both ingredients into a microwave safe bowl.
- Melt in 30 second increments. Stir after each 30 seconds.
- When melted, pour into the greased 8×8 inch pan. Let cool in the fridge and then cut into pieces.
- Add Nuts as desired.
Notes
You can also try these tasty variations for this easy fudge:
- Cherry Mash: Use cherry chips to make to the fudge. Then pour melted chocolate chips on top with peanuts.
- Peanut Butter: Use peanut butter chips to make to the fudge. Then top with chocolate or don’t, if you prefer not to.
- Dark Chocolate: Use dark chocolate chips
- Mint: Use mint chips, mint pieces or 1 tsp. mint flavoring
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry: Stir in 2-3 Tbsp. of strawberry jam
- Rocky Road: Stir in 1/2 cup marshmallows and 1/4 cup chopped almonds
- Vanilla Fudge: Use White chocolate chips instead
- Candy Cane: Use white chocolate chips and stir in crushed candy canes
- M&M: Stir in 1/3 cup of M&M’s
- Spicy Mexican: Add 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- Caramel: Swirl on top 1/4 cup caramel sauce
- Smore: Layer graham crackers on the bottom then put fudge on top and top with marshmallows or marshmallow cream.
Variations:
- Add Nuts as desired
- Cherry Mash: Use cherry chips to make to the fudge. Then pour melted chocolate chips on top with peanuts.
- Peanut Butter: Use peanut butter chips to make to the fudge. Then top with chocolate or don’t, if you prefer not to.
- Dark Chocolate: Use dark chocolate chips
- Mint- Use mint chips, mint pieces or 1 tsp. mint flavoring
2 Ingredient Nut Bark ( Mr. GoodBars)
12 oz melting chocolate
2 cups roasted peanuts unsalted
Pour chocolate into a microwave proof bowl. Melt in 30 second increments. Stir after each 30 seconds. When melted, stir in peanuts and pour into a lightly greased cookie sheet with edges. Let cool in the fridge and then cut into pieces.
No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
Ritz crackers
Peanut butter
Chocolate almond bark
Spread peanut butter on a cracker and top with a second cracker. Melt the almond bark in the microwave and then dip crackers in the melted almond bark. Lay on wax paper.
Try spreading different things that sound good on the crackers like marshmallow fluff, Nutella, or even a combination of these.
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I plan on making some of these today or tomorrow.
All the recipes look real good. They would make good Christmas gifts.
The 2 ingredient Nut Bark has how much CHOCOLATE?
Bea it should be 12 oz of chocolate. You can really adjust it to what you have or need. For example it you like it with less peanuts and more chocolate you can adjust it by either using least peanuts or adding more chocolate etc. Haven’t forgotten you. : )
My Mom used to make these candies:
Mix sifted powdered sugar with milk (or cream)and a little vanilla extract until it clings together in a ball. Roll out, using more powdered sugar to “flour” the board. Roll until about 1/4 inch thick.
Spread with peanut butter. Crunchy works best. You can also use chocolate or even Nutella and you can also spread with whatever you can dream up! Including jam…
Roll up into a cylinder and cut across into pieces. They should look like little “whorls.” You can also add food coloring to the milk to make different color candies.
Hi Jill, I know you are busy. I just love all these recipes and can’t wait to make some of them. THEY ALL LOOK GOOD.
Eleanor those candies sound good. I love sweets and they sound YUMMY.
Another easy one for the kids – combine 1/2 c. honey with 1/2 c. peanut butter until uniform in colour. Add 3/4 c. skim milk powder and 3/4 c. crisp rice cereal, combine well. Roll into little balls and then roll in coconut, crushed cereal, finely chopped nuts, etc. Keep in fridge or freezer. My 6-year-old can make these herself from beginning to end, and recruited her 4-year-old friend as her “helper” the other day.
What is fruit gelatin? Do you mean pectin, like you would use for canning? Or do you mean gelatin-gelatin, like Knox gelatin?
Now many times the recipes have fruit gelatin so they don’t have to use a name brand. What they mean is good old fashion Jello. It’s the same as it isn’t correct to say I need a Kleenex when you are using a Puff but you are suppose to say tissue. I still call my Puffs Kleenexes and I like to call Jello Jello not fruit gelatin but it isn’t I guess the correct thing to do. : )
Ah, gotcha. I think my brand of generic Jello says something completely else, hence why I was confused. Thanks!
My gum drops after 24 hours is too sticky doesn’t form nothing. What to I do I followed the recipient.
It could be any number of things Holly. Here in Kansas if the humidity isn’t just right it can effect the way it turns out. In Colorado the high altitude can do the same. Other things are whether or not it was boiled the exact amount of time, if your applesauce was a little more or less runny and things like that. I don’t make a lot of boiled or cooked candy any more myself because it can be a little touchy. To fix what you made you could maybe try to put it back in the pan, reheat and melt it and sprinkle another Tbsp. or two of Jello in it and let it cook for 30 sec. to a minute more. If you don’t want to do that you may have to try again. You could use what didn’t turn out as syrup on pancakes or over ice cream.
When my grand kids come and stay overnight, we have started making simple recipes together. I can’t wait to try the gumdrops when they come next time.
Hello we don’t sell jello were I live does anyone no what I could get they sell jelly what u put water in and it sets in fridge is that the same I’m hopeless
lynn that is what we call jello. you must be british. i think they call it jelly. we all call it somthing different.
We make the Ritz crackers with peanut butter but dip it in white bark. My family likes them better than them dipped in chocolate bark. It’s one of our favorites we make for Christmas. I also make them for church functions and decorate them with sprinkles or candy toppling for a more sophisticated look.
The homemade gumdrops didn’t say to refrigerate. They didn’t set up. When I made some more and put in the fridge they stuck to the glass pan and came out all messy and were all gooey. I was so disappointed. I was excited to have these for the grandchildren. 😢
Sorry they didn’t work for you Jodiann. Sometimes for candies the humidity and other things can affect it setting up.