Dark Chocolate Peanut Clusters
You can begin forming them while the chocolate is still hot or wait until it cools down a bit. (Depends on whether you have kids helping.)
Take out a cookie sheet. Line it with waxed paper or parchment paper. Place spoonfuls of the nut/chocolate mixture on the paper. They will spread a bit. If you want them thicker go back and add another peanut or two or three on top. As they cool they will become thicker.
Place your pan in the refrigerator to firm up the candies. In my house, when I was little, we put them in an uninsulated attic. Our cookie sheets would not fit in the refrigerator. This is where they were stored too. You can also put them in a clean place in your garage if it’s cool.
Store covered or in Tupperware in a cool place. They will last several weeks.
For Z3 and even into ZLife, don’t over do it. One a day should satisfy your sweet tooth. Eat them like a “squirrel” in teeny bites and you can make one last for quite a while!
Variations:
My family did Spanish peanuts
You can also make some with regular roasted peanuts With one batch I added a third cup of unsweetened peanut butter (ration one cup of chocolate to one-third cup of peanut butter -- or less). And I even added blobs for a peanut butter swirl. The peanut butter won’t harden but it will taste like the inside of a peanut butter cup.
You can also mince up a few dried cranberries and add those to the plain version for another variation. Careful on the cranberries. They are higher carb. Sometimes I add a whole cranberry on top as a marker so I know which ones have the cranberries in them.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola
