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    Home » Family Friendly Recipes » Homemade Gifts

    Easy Fruit & Nut Chocolate Buttons Recipe

    Dec 3, 2016 · 4 Comments

    25.0K shares
    • 145

    These easy fruit & nut chocolate buttons (also known as mendiants) make a fab quick and easy homemade gift idea that's easy enough for kids to make themselves!

    It's day three of the Eats Amazing Advent Calendar, and today I'm bringing you the first of several delicious homemade gift ideas that are super easy and perfect for children to make, all by themselves.

    Today's recipe is for Fruit & Nut Chocolate Buttons, a really simple recipe that takes no time at all to make but looks really impressive and of course is completely delicious!

    Easy Fruit and Nut Chocolate Buttons Recipe - great idea for homemade Christmas gifts kids can make - Eats Amazing UK

    As I mentioned above, this post is part of the Eats Amazing Fun Food Advent Calendar.  Every day from now until Christmas I’m sharing a new festive food idea and I’m announcing them over on the new Advent Calendar page too, so do click on the link, bookmark it and pop back each day to see what’s new!

    Yesterday I shared some yummy snowman smoothies, today it’s these fruit and nut chocolate buttons and tomorrow… you’ll have to come back for that one!

    Easy Fruit and Nut Chocolate Buttons Recipe - easy recipe for kids from Eats Amazing UK - great for Christmas gifts

    I've specified the fruit and nuts that I used to make ours in the recipe, but this is a very adaptable recipe so you can use whatever fruits and nuts you have to hand, or even just fruit, or just nuts if you prefer.

    You might well have everything you need for this in your cupboards already - have a hunt around and see if you can find any dried fruit or nuts lying forgotten at the back of a kitchen cupboard - it's a great recipe to use them up and you'll get some money-saving presents made at the same time - now that's multitasking!

    I used a mini tart tray to mould my buttons, but you can also use a silicone muffin tray, individual silicone cupcake cases or even a fun shaped chocolate mould - star or flower shapes would be particularly pretty!

    If you don't have any kind of mould, you can also make them free-hand by dropping the chocolate onto a baking sheet or tray lined with baking paper - they might not be quite as neat but they'll be every bit as delicious! This is the traditional way to make mendiants too, so they'll be beautifully authentic!

    Easy Fruit and Nut Chocolate Buttons Recipe - great idea for homemade Christmas gifts kids can make from Eats Amazing UK

    Fruit & Nut Chocolate Buttons

    Ingredients: 

    • 150g dark or milk chocolate
    • 7 walnut halves
    • 8 pecan nuts
    • small handful mixed jumbo raisins
    • small handful cranberries
    • small handul shelled pistachios

    Method: 

    Break up the chocolate and place it in a microwave safe bowl.

    Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring between each one to ensure it melts evenly. Be careful not to overheat or burn the chocolate, heat only until just melted and smooth.

    Drop small spoonfuls of the chocolate into a silicone tart tray or cupcake cases, swirling it around with the spoon to cover the bottom of each cup. Place a walnut half or pecan nut in the middle of each chocolate button, then add a few each of the raisins, cranberries and pistachios around the edges.

    Easy Fruit and Nut Chocolate Buttons - easy recipe for kids from Eats Amazing UK - great for Christmas gifts

    Repeat until you have used up all the chocolate.

    Once finished, place the chocolate buttons in the fridge to set - 15 minutes or so should do it.

    Once set, remove from the fridge, pop out of the moulds and serve, store in an air-tight container or bag up in cellophane bags to give as gifts.

    Enjoy!

    NOTES: This recipe is naturally gluten free and is easily adapted to keep it allergy friendly. You can make it dairy free by using dairy free chocolate, and of course omit the nuts and just used a variety of dried fruits for a nut free treat.

    Eats Amazing UK -Easy Fruit and Nut Chocolate Buttons Recipe - great idea for homemade Christmas gifts kids can make

    Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to see the next fun project in the Eats Amazing advent calendar!

    Looking for more Christmas gift ideas to make with kids? Check out this collection of 30 easy edible gift ideas that kids can make for Christmas!

     

    Or you might also like these similar gift recipes:

    Giant Chocolate Jazzies

    Really easy homemade giant chocolate jazzies - a great gift idea for kids to make this Christmas from Eats Amazing UK

    Strawberries & Cream Giant White Chocolate Buttons

    Sweet Chocolate Mendiants

    Nutcracker themed food idea - sweet topped chocolate mendiants for a nutcracker party - great homemade gift idea too

    Giant White Chocolate Rainbow Jazzies!

    Gorgeous giant white chocolate jazzies or snowies - easy recipe for kids

    For more delicious and fun food ideas for the festive season, check out the Christmas Food section here on the Eats Amazing blog or pop over and follow my Christmas Pinterest boards for lots more fun ideas from around the web; Christmas, Cute Christmas Food Ideas and Healthy Christmas Food.

    Grace

    Easy Fruit and Nut Chocolate Buttons Recipe - easy recipe for kids from Eats Amazing UK - great for Christmas gifts
    Print Recipe
    5 from 2 votes

    Fruit & Nut Chocolate Buttons

    Fruit & nut chocolate buttons make a fab quick and easy homemade gift idea that's easy enough for kids to make themselves - perfect for Christmas presents!
    Prep Time10 minutes mins
    Chilling Time15 minutes mins
    Total Time10 minutes mins
    Course: Gift, Snack
    Cuisine: British, Christmas
    Servings: 15 buttons
    Author: Grace Hall

    Ingredients

    • 150 g dark or milk chocolate
    • 7 walnut halves
    • 8 pecan nuts
    • small handful mixed jumbo raisins
    • small handful cranberries
    • small handul shelled pistachios

    Instructions

    • Break up the chocolate and place it in a microwave safe bowl.
    • Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring between each one to ensure it melts evenly. Be careful not to overheat or burn the chocolate, heat only until just melted and smooth.
    • Drop small spoonfuls of the chocolate into a silicone tart tray or cupcake cases, swirling it around with the spoon to cover the bottom of each cup.
    •  Place a walnut half or pecan nut in the middle of each chocolate button, then add a few each of the raisins, cranberries and pistachios around the edges.
    • Repeat until you have used up all the chocolate.
    • Once finished, place the chocolate buttons in the fridge to set – 15 minutes or so should do it.
    • Once set, remove from the fridge, pop out of the moulds to serve and store in an air-tight container.

    Notes

    This recipe is naturally gluten free and is easily adapted to keep it allergy friendly. You can make it dairy free by using dairy free chocolate, and of course omit the nuts and just used a variety of dried fruits for a nut free treat.

    Love this recipe idea? Why not save it to Pinterest so you can easily find it again!

    Easy Fruit and Nut Chocolate Buttons Recipe - great idea for homemade gifts kids can make this Christmas #EatsAmazing #Christmasfood #christmasgifts #easyrecipe #cookingwithkids #christmasgiftideas #diygift #teachergift #giftideas #snack #treats #chocolate

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    25.0K shares
    • 145

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    Comments

    1. Janice says

      November 12, 2017 at 12:41 pm

      5 stars
      These look really easy to make and so effective as a homemade gift. I adore Florentines but they are a bit of a faff to make, these have all the flavours without the fuss.

      Reply
    2. Rachel says

      December 12, 2019 at 6:47 am

      5 stars
      Hi, I was just wondering if you use cooking chocolate or normal confectionery chocolate for these chocolate buttons? I can't wait to make these, they are so cute!
      Thank you!

      Reply
      • Grace Hall says

        June 27, 2020 at 1:52 pm

        Hi Rachel, I use normal confectionery chocolate and take care not to overheat it. Cooking chocolate would work fine too, but I prefer the taste of normal chocolate. Hope that helps!

        Reply
    5 from 2 votes

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