Happy Happy Tuesday y’all!!! I hope everyone had a nice weekend and is back into the groove of things. If not, I’m bringing y’all a wonderfully easy and delicious sweet and salty treat today. Sooo, I really must preface this recipe with the confession that I totally botched this recipe the first go round.
This is far from being the first time I’ve done this and certainly not the last. You maybe sitting there wondering, ‘Holly, how could you botch such a simple recipe?’ well in all honesty, it really stemmed from just absolutely not wanting to go back to the store again, AKA lazy. Ok, not really lazy, but when you realize you don’t have an ingredient you thought you had and have literally just gotten back from the store, sigh, seriously I just didn’t want to go back.
So, I convinced myself that I knew enough about cooking to swap out an ingredient…I really should know better, I’m not really good at going off of the recipe, like ever. Anyways, the deal is, almond bark was needed for this recipe, instead I used melted milk chocolate. Y’all, there’s a reason that almond bark is used instead, it hardens sooo much better, and contrary to the opinion of a very well known candy ad, chocolate does in fact melt in your hand.
My first batch ended up fine except that holding one for more than 3 seconds resulted in it completely melting all over my hands. I wanted these so badly to turn out just like one of my favorites, Easy Peanut Chocolate Thingies, which I made about 4 billion of during the holidays this year for people because they were so popular and then with the added bonus of the caramel. That’s something else, the caramel hardened waaay too much, like stuck in my teeth so bad that I thought my jaw might be fused like that forever haha. Sooo, I kept the caramel in the recipe because I still think it would be sooo delicious, I’m just going to have to find a caramel that stays a whole lot softer. Anyways, other than the huge mess I originally made of these, they really are an easy and super delicious recipe–when you use the correct ingredients obvi–. Hope y’all have a wonderful day and thank you so much for stopping by!!!
Cashew Clusters…
caramels ready to be melted…
melted caramel on top of the clusters…
then nice and covered in chocolate…
Enjoy!!!
- 2 Cups Salted Cashews.
- 1 Bag of Kraft Caramels or about 2 Cups (Optional).
- 24 Ounces of Almond Bark.
- Wax Paper.
- Line a large baking sheet with wax paper, and spray with cooking spray to keep the caramel from sticking.
- Make little piles of cashews (about 6-7 in each pile).
- Place your caramels in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes making sure to stir every 45 seconds, just keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil over.
- With a spoon, drip caramel over each cluster then place the tray in the refrigerator until the caramel has hardened.
- Cut your almond bark into pieces and place into a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for about 4 minutes stirring every minute or so.
- Now, you can either spoon the melted bark over your clusters, or dip them whole into the chocolate, whichever you find easier.
- Refrigerate until the chocolate sets and enjoy!
- The caramel is optional due to how hard the caramel becomes, if you can find one that will stay really soft and pliable absolutely use that, these are still amazing without the caramel.