Eight Days of Christmas Treats: Peppermint coconut clusters are quick to make, delicious to eat

Editor's note: We're sharing eight straight days of Christmas treats! It's time to bake!

Need to make some Christmas cookies quick? Try these clusters. You can whip them up in no time when you need something to take to a Christmas party or bring over to a neighbor.

The stars of these are the peppermint extract and chocolate. The coconut provides more texture than flavor.

Peppermint Coconut Clusters
Adapted from Food Network

4 ounces chocolate, chopped - The recipe calls for semisweet, but I simply used dark chocolate chips (and didn't bother to chop them).
1/2 cup coconut, sweetened, shredded and packed
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, according to the package instruction. Stir every 30 seconds or so until it's smooth. Then, mix in the coconut and peppermint extract. Stir until it's all combined. Spoon the mixture into 8 mini cupcake liners. Stick it into the refrigerator until it's set. That takes about 30 minutes.

I stored these in the refrigerator as they started getting a little soft when I left them out.

Stay tuned for another Christmas recipe tomorrow! And check WRAL.com's recipe database for more.