Chocolate Coconut Nut Clusters

Total Time: 45 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 2 2/3 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 2 cups pecans (or your favorite, even mixed nuts would be good) or 2 cups walnuts, chopped (or your favorite, even mixed nuts would be good)
• 2 2/3 cups chocolate chips or 2 2/3 cups milk chocolate chips or 2 2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• chocolate chips, for drizzle (a different kind of chocolate from what you use in the clusters) (optional)

Recipe

• 1 line 4 miniature muffin pans with candy cups; set them aside. (or you can skip the paper candy cups and just drop these by the spoonful onto wax paper lined cookie sheets.).
• 2 heat the oven to 350 degrees. spread the coconut and nuts on separate cookie sheets.
• 3 bake each until golden brown, about 9 minutes for the nuts and 10 for the coconut, stirring every few minutes to keep them from burning. let them cool.
• 4 combine the toasted coconut and nuts in a medium-size bowl. melt the chocolate chips in the microwave according to the package directions.
• 5 add the melted chocolate to the coconut mixture; stir well. drop the mixture by heaping teaspoonfuls into the candy cups (or directly onto lined cookie sheets). chill until set, about 45 minutes.
• 6 if desired, melt additional chocolate according to the package directions.
• 7 pour the contents into a zipper bag. snip off a small corner of the bag, then drizzle the chocolate over the clusters.
• 8 chill until drizzle is set, about 15 minutes.
• 9 store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.