There are some sweets that simply taste like December. Peppermint bark. Gingerbread. And these—these glorious, chewy, jewel-toned nugart bars that look like someone captured a string of Christmas lights inside a cloud of sweet, buttery nougat.
Here's the magic: they require exactly three ingredients, zero baking, and about as much effort as making toast. Yet somehow, they emerge from your refrigerator looking like they came from a charming little confectionery shop, the kind with striped awnings and bells on the door.
These are the candies your grandmother made. The ones that disappeared from holiday platters before the cookies even had a chance. And now they're about to become your secret weapon for gift-giving, cookie swaps, and those December evenings when you need something sweet and you need it now.
The Holy Trinity of Ingredients
That's genuinely it. No candy thermometer, no sugar boiling, no temperamental gelatin.
10 oz (about 5 cups) mini marshmallows — the plain white kind, not flavored
12 oz (about 2 cups) white chocolate chips or melting wafers — good-quality chips melt more smoothly
2 tablespoons unsalted butter — for richness and to prevent stickiness
1½ cups chopped gumdrops or spice drops — red and green for Christmas, pastels for Easter, all one color for a modern look
Optional but Wonderful:
½ teaspoon almond or peppermint extract — added with the marshmallows for a flavor twist
Flaky sea salt — a pinch on top before the chocolate sets
The Method: Melt, Stir, Chill, Slice
