Crockpot chocolate peanut clusters are the perfect giftable sweet treat or addition to a cookie spread this holiday season! This easy candy recipe will delight any chocolate lover.
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The holidays are all about sweets in this house.
We try to stick to the four main food groups in December: candy, candy corn, candy canes, and syrup.
Actually it’s more like cocoa, cookies, and candy.
And these crockpot peanut clusters are one of our favorite homemade candies.
They are reach and delicious but oh so easy to make.
Ingredients
To make this easy slow cooker candy you’ll need:
- Almond bark– Vanilla flavored, broken up into smaller pieces.
- Chocolate chips– Use semisweet chocolate chips and use a higher quality chip.
- German chocolate– 1 4 ounce bar. Get good quality.
- Peanuts– Use dry roasted peanuts. Not a fan of peanuts? You can substitute cashews instead.
How to Make
This candy is so easy to make!
To do it, start by lining your slow cooker with a plastic crockpot liner bag. Spread it out to fit leaving the excess hanging over the outer edges of the device.
Once you’ve lined the bowl of your slow cooker, add the almond bark in an even layer to the crockpot.
Then, break up the German chocolate bar and spread that evenly out overtop and sprinkle all the chocolate chips evenly out over the other chocolates.
Next, spread the peanuts out in an even layer on top.
Add the lid to close and cook on HIGH for 1 hour.
While it’s cooking, don’t open or stir.
After and hour, switch to the LOW heat setting.
Then open the lid, and give everything a good stir, being careful to keep the liner in place.
Then return the lid and continue cooking on LOW for another hour, stirring again at the 30 minute mark.
Stir a final time at the 1 hour mark.
After the final stir, spread a large sheet of parchment paper onto a clean countertop.
Drop large spoonfuls of the chocolate covered peanuts onto the waiting parchment paper, leaving space in between each cluster for them to spread slightly without touching.
Continue until all the mixture has been used, moving to new sheets of parchment paper, if needed.
Let the crockpot peanut clusters rest for 2-3 hours, or until the chocolate is completely set.
Serve them now, or store them in zip-locking bags in the fridge until ready to serve.
How to Gift Homemade Chocolate Peanut Clusters
If you plan to gift them within 2 days of making them, store them in decorative tins. Make sure to separate the layers with sheets of parchment paper.
These are a few of my favorite decorative tins:
- Christmas Cookie Boxes
- Nesting Buffalo Plaid Round Tins
- Santa Mailbox Tin
- Rectangular Blue/White Snowflake Tins
- and for something more secular: Undecorated Silver Cookie Tins
Tips and Tricks
- You don’t have to use a plastic crockpot liner, but chocolate is incredibly hard to scrub off. Using nonstick cooking spray won’t do much unless you use too much to make the recipe work.
- If you want to add sprinkles or other decorative elements to the chocolates do them right after dropping, while the chocolate’s still soft and hasn’t yet set.
- These can be made with cashews instead of peanuts.
Other Giftable Sweets for the Holidays
Crockpot chocolate peanut clusters are an easy sweet to gift this holiday season. Make them and delight the sweets fans on your list.
Looking for other giftable sweets? Try these:
- Hot Chocolate Bombs
- Super Soft Eggnog Cookies
- Soft Chewy Homemade Caramels
- Gingerbread Cookie Dough Fudge
- Toffee & Chocolate Covered Strawberries
- Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls
- RumChata Hot Cocoa Bombs
- Hot Cocoa Mix Filled Ornaments
If you’ve tried these CROCKPOT CHOCOLATE PEANUT CLUSTERS, or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and whatever else we’ve got going on!
Crockpot Peanut Clusters
Ingredients
- 24 oz vanilla flavored almond bark broken up
- 1 12 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 4 oz bar German chocolate
- 24 oz dry, roasted peanuts
Instructions
- Place a plastic crockpot liner bag in the bowl of your slow cooker. Spread it out to fit leaving the excess hanging over the outer edges of the device.
- Add the almond bark to the bottom of the crock, spreading it out in an even layer. Break up the German chocolate bar and spread that evenly out overtop.
- Sprinkle all the chocolate chips evenly out over the other chocolates.
- Spread the peanuts out in an even layer on top.
- Add the lid to close and cook on HIGH for 1 hour. Do not open; do not stir.
- Switch to the LOW heat setting. Open the lid, and give everything a good stir but be careful not to displace your liner too much.
- Return the lid and continue cooking on LOW and continue cooking another hour, stirring again at the 30 minute mark. Stir a final time at the 1 hour mark.
- Spread a large sheet of parchment paper onto a clean countertop.
- Drop large spoonfuls of the chocolate covered peanuts onto the waiting parchment paper, leaving space in between each cluster for them to spread slightly without touching. Continue until all the mixture has been used, moving to new sheets of parchment paper, if needed.
- Let the crockpot peanut clusters rest for 2-3 hours, or until the chocolate is completely set.
- Serve them now, or store them in zip-locking bags in the fridge until ready to serve.
Notes
- You don't have to use a plastic crockpot liner, but chocolate is incredibly hard to scrub off. Using nonstick cooking spray won't do much unless you use too much to make the recipe work.
- If you want to add sprinkles or other decorative elements to the chocolates do them right after dropping, while the chocolate's still soft and hasn't yet set.
- These can be made with cashews instead of peanuts.
Nutrition
This post may contain affiliate links. As an amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. See my full Disclosure Policy for details. As always, all opinions are my own.