Nonpareil candies are lovely little sweets that require just two ingredients: chocolate bark and nonpareil sprinkles. If you’re looking for the most adorable candies on earth, here they are!
Of course, there are other reasons we love nonpareils candy and love to make them. For instance…
- They’re super easy to put together. If you need something quick to bring to a party or something for all those coworkers you forgot to buy gifts for, or just want fast sweets for the kids’ birthday party…here’s your recipe!
- They make perfect gifts! Have a fun candy-making afternoon with your little ones and their friends and give them as a gift!
- They’re versatile! Because you can pick and choose what color nonpareils you want in these candies, you can whip them together for any event, holiday, or occasion.
Sound fun? Scroll down for the recipe!
Have You Had Traditional Nonpareils?
We all know what nonpareil sprinkles are, those tiny balls of sugary sweetness that are perfect to dip cookies and other sweets in. So, chocolate nonpareils are typically round disks almost like candy melts, covered in white nonpareils sprinkles on the bottom.
The classic sno cap candies that we all know from movie theaters are small chocolate chips with the same white sprinkles on the bottom.
The fun thing about our tutorial is we show you how to make them using three different methods. One will use a kiss shaped mold with the least amount of sprinkles. The second method covers small chocolate discs with a medium amount of sprinkles. The third method shows how to pipe melted a chocolate drop on a bed of nonpareil sprinkles on baking sheets.
This last method is our very favorite and time saving method! It’s also the most versatile. You can change the size of the disk as you wish. Want a bigger one to bag for gifts, have at it.
Nonpareils Candy: Ingredients & Utensils
Ingredients
- 1 package white almond bark or chocolate almond bark
- Any nonpareils sprinkles (and we have lots here at Sweets and Treats!)
Utensils & Other Items
- Parchment paper
- Microwave safe bowl
- Plastic squeeze bottle
How To Make Nonpareil Candies
- Tear off a piece of parchment paper.
- Trace circles onto paper if you like to help you shape the candies.
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt almond bark. Beginning with 2 blocks, heat for 1 minute, then stir. Continue heating for 30 seconds, then stir again until chocolate is completely melted.
- Transfer chocolate to a plastic squeeze bottle.
- Squeeze dime size circles of chocolate onto parchment paper.
- Immediately add nonpareil sprinkles – any kind you’d like!
- Let set 5 minutes.
- Store in an airtight container.
For smaller chocolate chip sized candies copycat sno caps, use a mold like this one, and follow these instructions:
- Follow the instructions above for melting almond bark.
- Place chocolate in a squeeze bottle.
- Working very quickly, squeeze chocolate into molds.
- Fill 5-6 holes at a time, then tap the molds lightly on a flat surface to level chocolate.
- Immediately add nonpareil sprinkles – remember, any kind you’d like!
- Continue filling remaining holes.
- Let set to harden 5 minutes.
- Gently pop candies out of the mold.
- Store in an airtight container.
Nonpareils Candy Recipe: Tips & Tricks
Before we get into some tips about actually making these homemade candies right, we, of course, want to share our suggestions about customizing them for any occasion.
- We have a few special holiday mixes! Our Christmas nonpareils are great during those wintry months, while Halloween nonpareils create spooky little candies. For Thanksgiving or fall fun, we have fall nonpareils in lovely autumn colors.
- Our Fish Food nonpareil mix is a great gender-neutral birthday party mix for kids! (And kids, by the way, love nonpareils, just FYI!)
- Combine our black and white nonpareils, or black and gold nonpareils, for a formal event, like weddings or even school proms!
- We can think of lots of cute games you could play at a baby shower with light pink or light blue nonpareils.
- Combine our red nonpareil sprinkles with our pink nonpareil sprinkles (and/or our white ones!) for adorable Valentine’s Day treats.
- Our silver gunmetal nonpareils are gorgeous and might make candies suitable for retirement parties or similar occasions.
These nonpareils will bring out your creative side, so indulge it!
Now then—two other tips!
- If you don’t have a plastic squeeze bottle to make cute little nonpareil circles, a Ziploc bag with the corner cut will do.
- Work quickly when drizzling out the chocolate and especially when adding the nonpareil sprinkles, like we said in the recipe, or else the chocolate will harden. Then you’ll just have chocolate bits…which, while tasty, aren’t nearly as fun as nonpareil candies!
Tell us about these homemade candies!
Whether you use white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate, you can mix and match to any sprinkle for any theme you wish.
Nonpareil candies are simple, sweet, and incredibly fun to make. They’re sure to bring smiles to the faces of anyone who tries them, so be sure to give them out this holiday season (or any season, for that matter).
How did they turn out for you? Do you have any other questions we didn’t cover? Let us know down in the comments below!
Check out more sweet inspiration right here!
Did you love this homemade nonpareils candy recipe and tutorial? Here are a few of our favorite recipes we’ve posted:
- Easy Cake Batter Fudge
- Gingerbread Cookie Bites
- Homemade Chocolate Covered Pretzels
- Fairy Bread
- Sprinkle Lollipops
- Cake Pizza