"What's This?" White Chocolate Snowflake Clusters

One of the most iconic moments in The Nightmare Before Christmas is Jack Skellington's wide-eyed arrival in Christmas Town, and I thought an interpretation of white chocolate haystacks would be the perfect nod to the snowflakes he first encounters in this wintery land. My mother first made these candies from a recipe in Marlene Sorosky's Season's Greetings cookbook from the 1980's and they continue to be a Christmas tradition in our household.  Easy as can be -- even without a recipe -- they are made by carefully melting 12 ounces of white chocolate and adding in broken stick pretzels and salty peanuts and then mounding in "haystacks" before the chocolate hardens.  Sometimes I add crumbled shortbread cookies for yet another texture or as I did in this case, I substituted dried cranberries for a bit of tartness and pistachios for their salty goodness -- to impart these sweet candies with Christmassy colors.

T-Shirt: Kate Spade New York Speak of the Devil Tee
T-Shirt: Kate Spade New York Speak of the Devil Earflap Hat
Lips: Lime Crime Velvetines in Red Velvet
Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Auburn