Mixed Nut Clusters

Christmas week. I started the ham Wednesday — scored the skin in diamonds, packed the cuts with a paste of brown sugar, yellow mustard, ground cloves, and a little black pepper, then wrapped it in foil and set it in the smoker at two hundred degrees over hickory chunks. Twelve hours. You can't rush a Christmas ham any more than you can rush a man toward a decision he's not ready for, though Connie would argue she's been plenty patient. The ham came out Thursday morning, glaze crackling, the kitchen smelling like smoke and sugar and every Christmas I can remember.

Travis and Jolene came over Christmas Eve. Amber drove up from her apartment, still in scrubs again because the hospital doesn't close for holidays and neither does Amber. Clay and his Thursday group had a Christmas gathering at the church basement that afternoon — potluck, no alcohol, all veterans — and he came to our place after, carrying a plate of cookies someone's wife had made. Five months and three weeks sober. Not that I'm counting. I am absolutely counting.

Christmas dinner was the ham, Betty's cornbread dressing reheated from the freezer because I made extra at Thanksgiving, mashed potatoes, green beans, macaroni and cheese that Jolene made from her mother's recipe which uses three kinds of cheese and is, I will admit under no legal obligation, very good. Betty called from Evarts. Dale held the phone again. She sounded tired but she asked about the ham and I said it was good, Mama, and she said did you use enough cloves and I said yes ma'am and she said most people don't use enough cloves. She's eighty-one years old and still coaching me from three hours away.

After dinner I sat on the back porch in my coat with a bourbon and looked at the fire pit I built this summer and the yard where my grandchildren will play someday — Travis and Jolene aren't there yet but they will be, I can see it — and I thought about what Connie said about deciding before someone decides for me. I thought about Earl, who never decided anything, who just went into the mountain until the mountain killed him. I don't want to be decided for. I don't want to be Earl. I love my father with everything I have but I don't want to be the man who let the work choose his ending. The bourbon was good. The cold was honest. The ham was right. That's enough for Christmas.

Clay walked in that Christmas Eve carrying a plate of cookies someone’s wife had made at the church potluck, and I’ll be honest — I didn’t ask what was on it, I just set it on the counter and was glad he was there to bring it. That’s the thing about the holidays: the sweet stuff matters, but not as much as who’s carrying it. These Mixed Nut Clusters are what I’ve started making when I want something on the table that’s easy, honest, and good — the kind of thing that doesn’t compete with the ham but gives people something to reach for while the bourbon is poured and the fire pit is still glowing out back.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes (includes setting time) | Servings: 24 clusters

Ingredients

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup roasted salted peanuts
1 cup roasted cashews
1/2 cup pecan halves
1/2 cup whole almonds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Flaky sea salt, for finishing (optional)

Instructions

Melt the chocolate. Place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until fully melted and smooth — about 90 seconds total. Stir in vanilla extract.
Fold in the nuts. Add peanuts, cashews, pecans, and almonds to the melted chocolate. Stir until all nuts are evenly coated.
Portion the clusters. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop heaping tablespoon-sized portions of the nut mixture onto the sheet, spacing them about an inch apart.
Finish and set. If using, sprinkle a pinch of flaky sea salt over each cluster while the chocolate is still wet. Let clusters set at room temperature for 30 minutes, or refrigerate for 15 minutes until firm.
Store. Transfer to an airtight container. Clusters keep at room temperature for up to one week, or refrigerated for up to three weeks.

Nutrition (per serving)

Mixed Nut Clusters — The Kind of Sweet That Earns Its Place at a Christmas Table