Posted Nov 30, 2017, Updated Jun 24, 2024 These Chocolate Peanut Clusters with Peanut Butter a delicious & easy candy recipe made with only four ingredients. These beauties were inspired by my favorite candy to get when we’d go to old-timey candy shops – peanuts that were dipped in peanut butter and double-dipped in chocolate. Those peanut clusters were over $21 a pound (yikes), so I decided to recreate them in my own kitchen, but make them clusters instead of individually dipped peanuts. Because, if you’ve ever tried dipping individual peanuts in peanut butter and then in chocolate you’d know that it is not easy or fun. So I took the idea and created thse Chocolate Peanut Clusters with Peanut Buttr, which are arguably better than the originals because there is a higher peanut butter to chocolate ratio in every bite. And you all know I am a firm believe that more peanut butter is always a good choice.
Chocolate Peanut Clusters: Ingredients & Substitutions
Powdered sugar. If you’d like to keep the filling refined sugar free, use this recipe to make your own powered sugar. Peanut butter/peanuts. Any nut butter/nut combination could be used if you have a peanut allergy. Cashews and cashew butter is delicious. I suggest using a peanut butter that is liquid at room temperature for easy stirring. If your peanut butter is solid at room temperature, warm it slightly in the microwave to make it stir-able! Please do not overheat the peanut butter. Salt. Only add if your peanut butter isn’t too salty. Semi-sweet chocolate. Any kind of chocolate can be used in this recipe, milk, dark even white.
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Clusters
This chocolate peanut clusters recipe is easy to make! We’ll walk through the recipe together, and don’t forget to watch the video. Begin by combining the peanut butter, powdered sugar and sea salt in a medium bowl. Then, add the peanuts and stir until evenly coated in the peanut butter mixture. Scoop ½ Tablespoon portions of the peanut mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, forming them into the desired shape. Once all of the mixture has been used, place baking sheet in the freezer until hardened (about 1-2 hours). The clusters need to be frozen before dipping them in chocolate to ensure they hold together. Temper the chocolate. Here is a simple method for tempering chocolate in the microwave. If you don’t care if your chocolate is shiny then you can simply melt the chocolate and cover your clusters with it. Once the chocolate reaches 90 degrees F, begin dipping peanut clusters into the chocolate, using a fork to shake off excess chocolate. If the chocolate becomes too thick, gently warm it again until it is easy to dip the chocolate in (try not to go over 90 degrees F). Place dipped peanut clusters on baking sheet to harden at room temperature or in the refrigerator. If desired, once the chocolate peanut clusters are hardened, drizzle them with additional chocolate. Then, transfer them to the refrigerator or freezer until hardened.
Serve
Once hardened, serve the chocolate peanut clusters slightly chilled or at room temperature (my preference). They’re a great addition to a holiday cookie tray too!
Store/Freeze
Store these chocolate peanut clusters in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week, in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. You can wrap them in cute boxes or bags and give as gifts for the holidays too! If you make and love our recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along with us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so we can see your creations!
