A 5-ingredient (can be made to 3) dessert recipe with fresh fruit! Make these chocolate cuties or the chocolate-dipped clementines for this holiday season party and wow your guests! This treat is super addictive, and you can make them in less than 20 minutes.
I love making desserts with seasonal fruits, and you will find a lot of fruit-based dessert recipes on my blog like mango cake, persimmon cake, cranberry cheesecake, and more. This year I am so excited to share this super-easy chocolate dipped clementines coated with nuts.
We all know about strawberry dipped in chocolate, how about cuties/clementines? I want to thank my colleague V for introducing this recipe. I think she got this recipe from a magazine clipping, and when she shared it with me, I wanted to try it right away, and I duly did. Oh boy, these are super addictive. Clementines + chocolates plus crushed nuts? What’s not to love, right?
I think I have mentioned it here before. My son, who is not fond of super chocolatey treats, enjoyed this thoroughly. Not only him, his friend as well. So, I can clearly say its a kid-approved recipe. :-)
Clementines:
Before getting into the recipe, let me share what clementines are. Clementines are the smallest member of the mandarin family, and they are available from November to April. You can peel them quickly, and they are sweet, and yeah, they are seedless too.
Are you now wondering why I am calling this post as chocolate cuties? It’s just a brand name, and they say in cuties website, they are California clementines. (This is NOT a sponsored post) You can use any variety of clementine for this recipe. You can read more about cuties and the other brand halos here. And there is one more read about them on the Standford website and check that as well.
Easy Treat!
Now back to the recipe. :-) I said you can make this recipe in less than 20 minutes. (I did not include the setting time here. The active preparation time is less than 20 minutes) If you melt the chocolate in the microwave, you can make this in less than 10 minutes. This is definitely a healthy snack to satiate those sweet tooth cravings.
What you have to do is,
- Peel and segment the clementines (don’t discard the peels. Use them for making candied peels)
- Dip the segments in the melted chocolate
- Sprinkle or Roll them with nuts
- Refrigerate and Relish
That’s it. Quite an easy recipe, right? It’s a perfect treat for parties and potlucks. So next time, sign up for making these chocolate cuties. :-)
Ingredients & Substitutes for Chocolate Cuties:
Now let me share the ingredients that I used and the alternatives.
- Clementines: I used the cuties brand. You can use any readily available clementine variety. Make sure they are sweet. That’s the key. For this recipe, I used only two cuties, which gave me close to 18 segments.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. We prefer semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use dark chocolate too. For this recipe, you need ⅓ cup of chocolate chips. If you want a thick layer of chocolate or want to dip more, then go for ½ cup.
- Nuts: I used pistachios, almonds, and pumpkin seeds. I used more pistachios to get that green hue. You can only use pistachios or any nuts of your choice. If you have nut allergies, skip them and drizzle sea salt.
How to Make Chocolate Cuties?
Step 1 – Pulse the nuts coarsely and set it aside. If there are extra crushed nuts, then you can use it for banana splits or pumpkin-pie spiced energy balls.
Step 2 – Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.
Step 3 – Peel the clementines and separate the segments. You can place them on the parchment paper too.
All the above three steps are prep-work.
Step 4 – Take the ⅓ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl.
Microwave for 30 seconds at the high setting and remove it from the microwave. Using a spoon mix it vigorously and melt it again for 30 to 45 seconds until the chocolate melts. You don’t need more than 90 seconds to melt this ⅓ cup of chocolate chips. But the time might vary depending upon your microwave setting. Make sure you stir for every 30 seconds.
Step 5 – Now take each clementine segment and dip it in the chocolate. Gently roll and make sure you are coating ¼ or ⅓ part of the clementine with chocolate.
Step 6 – Sprinkle the crushed nuts on the chocolate coating. You can drizzle one or two teaspoons according to your preference. Then place them back in the parchment paper. Dip and sprinkle the remaining segments.
Step 7 – Let it refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes. And that’s it. Relish the treat!
Recipe Notes-
- You can use any clementine variety, but make sure they are sweet.
- Letting the chocolate-coated clementines set on the parchment paper helps a lot. It’s mess-free, and it’s easy to remove the cuties from the parchment paper.
- If you are allergic to nuts, skip the nuts and drizzle some coarse sea salt. A pinch of sea salt for each segment would be sufficient.
- You can use dark chocolate also for this recipe. Check out my healthy dark chocolate recipe.
PS: Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates. If you try this chocolate cuties recipe, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it asap. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas!
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Dipped Clementines | Chocolate Cuties
Equipment
- Baking Tray
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 2 clementines
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 10 pistachios deshelled and unsalted
- 5 almonds
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
Instructions
Prep-Work:
- Pulse the nuts coarsely and set it aside.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Peel the clementines and separate the segments.
Steps:
- Take the ⅓ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at the high setting and remove it from the microwave. Using a spoon mix, it vigorously and melt it again for 30 to 45 seconds until the chocolate melts. You don't need more than 90 seconds to melt this ⅓ cup of chocolate chips. But the time might vary depending upon your microwave setting. Make sure you stir for every 30 seconds.
- Now take each clementine segment and dip it in the chocolate. Gently roll and make sure you are coating ¼ or ⅓ part of the clementine with chocolate.
- Sprinkle the crushed nuts on the chocolate coating. You can drizzle one or two teaspoons. Then place them back in the parchment paper. Dip and sprinkle the remaining segments.
- Let it refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes. And that's it. Relish the treat!
Notes
- You can use any clementine variety, but make sure they are sweet.
- Letting the chocolate-coated clementines set on the parchment paper helps a lot. It's mess-free, and it's easy to remove the cuties from the parchment paper.
- If you are allergic to nuts, skip the nuts and drizzle some coarse sea salt. A pinch of sea salt for each segment would be sufficient.
- You can use dark chocolate also for this recipe.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Update Notes: Earlier posted this recipe in 2015. I have updated the recipe with new pictures.
Pavani says
Love Cuties :-)
Interesting way of jazzing up the oranges with addition.
srividhya says
:-) Thanks pavani
PJ says
Sounds like a fun recipe! Kids will love it for sure!
srividhya says
Ha ha yeah
Sneha datar says
Really cute and yummy cuties.
srividhya says
Thanks :-)
Varada says
They look super. Interesting use of clementine in place of strawberries.
srividhya says
Thanks Varada
Harini says
Very innovative.
srividhya says
:-) :-)
Nalini says
Cuties look so cute and tempting….
srividhya says
Thanks Nalini
Priya Srinivasan says
real cutie!! looks very tempting!
srividhya says
:-) :-)
Srivalli says
Thats so interesting..never realized you were talking abt the fruit..:)
srividhya says
ha ha.. in Calif the small oranges are called cuties :-)
priya says
Wow, this is very interesting, wat a best way to sneak fruits.
srividhya says
yup :-)
Traditionally Modern Food says
V get cuties here and love it. Choco dipped fruits, I love it. Have tried with strawberry but orange looks inviting too..
srividhya says
Thanks :-)
farin ahmed says
Semma cute choco cuties.. love it..so interesting dear
srividhya says
Thanks Farin :-)
Padma says
They really look cute dear:)…Well made:)
srividhya says
Thanks Padma
Malar says
Super kalakkal….easy and nice for kids…
srividhya says
Yup.. very easy and perfect for potluck desserts too
Suma Gandlur says
Yummy. Even kids who are orange-phobics would gobble them.
srividhya says
ha ha yeah suma
Sarita says
Looks cute.. Sure my kids will enjoy these delicious cuties..
srividhya says
:-) Thanks
freakyveggie says
Aaaaah. Cute they are :)
srividhya says
:-) Thanks FV