Caramel Peanut Clusters are the perfect chewy and crunchy candy with chocolate, caramels, heavy cream, vanilla, and salted peanuts.
Chocolate Covered Peanut Clusters are the perfect Homemade Candy to enjoy during the holidays. This recipe takes the same idea, but adds rich gooey caramel to the mix, and uses a semi-sweet chocolate coating.
CARAMEL PEANUT CLUSTERS
Caramel Peanut Clusters are amazing sweet and salty treats to serve at a party, enjoy with your family, or give as a gift. The salty peanuts with caramel coating are the perfect combination of soft and crunchy texture. Then the Peanut Caramel Clusters are coated in semi-sweet chocolate for even more sweetness.
These candies are especially easy to make with store-bought caramels. However, if you don’t have any on hand you can make your own Homemade Caramel using cream, butter, corn syrup, sugar, and vanilla!
If you give Caramel Peanut Clusters as a gift, try putting them in a box with other homemade holiday chocolates like Chocolate Truffles, and Pretzel Hugs. You can make a few candy recipes, then give everyone on your gift list a little of all of them. It’s fun, easy, and sure to be a favorite with anyone you give them to!
MORE HOLIDAY CANDIES
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Samoa’s Fudge
Saltine Toffee
Pecan Pie Bark
TIPS FOR MAKING CARAMEL PEANUT CLUSTERS
- Prep: Start the recipe by lining your baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Caramel Mixture: In a Dutch oven over low-medium heat, add the butter, heavy cream and caramels. Stir occasionally, until the caramels are fully melted and combined with the cream and butter. Do not let the mixture boil.
- Microwave Option: To make the caramel sauce add caramels, heavy cream, and butter to a microwave-safe bowl. Then melt it for 30 seconds. Take it out and stir, then microwave for another 15 seconds, and then another 30 seconds if it’s not completely melted and smooth.
- Peanuts: Add the peanuts to the pan (or bowl), and mix until they are well coated in the caramel mixture. Leave the mixture to cool for 20 minutes, but mix it every 5 minutes so that it doesn’t harden.
- Form: Use a tablespoon-sized scoop to form the mixture into uniform clusters. Lay each Caramel Cluster onto the prepared baking sheet with a few inches between them. Put them in the fridge for 30 minutes so that it has time to harden.
- Chocolate: Add the chocolate chips or melting disks to a microwave-safe bowl. Put the bowl of chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir it, and then microwave for another 15 seconds. Mix until the melted chocolate is smooth.
- Dip: Take the caramel and peanut clusters from the fridge and dip each one into the chocolate. Place them back on the baking sheet and give them another 30 minutes to harden in the fridge.
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VARIATIONS ON CARAMEL PEANUT CLUSTERS
- Honey roasted peanuts: Instead of just regular salted peanuts, you could try using honey-roasted peanuts. You could also mix some honey into the peanut mixture for some extra honey flavor.
- Nuts: You could also make mixed nut clusters with almonds, pecans, walnuts, or cashews.
- Chocolate: You can dip the clusters in a different type of chocolate instead of semi-sweet. Try using white chocolate or milk chocolate. Or, for a deeper taste, you can use dark chocolate.
MORE CARAMEL RECIPES
Chocolate Covered Caramels
Turtle Cookies
Twix Cookies
Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Rods
HOW TO STORE CARAMEL PEANUT CLUSTERS
- Serve: Let the recipe cool for at least 30 minutes before it fully sets. You can leave them at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- Store: If it’s warmer in your house, the clusters will melt if you keep them out, so you can put them in an airtight container to store in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.
- Freeze: Another option is storing them in the freezer. Kept in a freezer-bag with the layers separated by parchment paper, they’ll be good frozen for 4 months.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate melting disks , or chocolate chips
- 14 ounces chewy caramels , unwrapped
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 cup salted peanuts
Instructions
- Line 1-2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add the butter, cream and caramels to a Dutch oven over low-medium heat. Stir occasionally, careful not to let the mixture boil, until the caramels are fully melted and combined.
- Microwave Option: Add the caramels, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and butter to a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, then stir and microwave for 15 seconds until smooth.
- If needed microwave an additional 30 seconds.
- Mix in the peanuts until well coated.
- Let mixture cool for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent hardening.
- Scoop 1 tablespoon-sized scoop of the peanut caramel mixture onto the baking sheets.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to harden.
- Add the chocolate melting disks to a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, then stir and microwave for 15 seconds increments until smooth.
- If needed microwave an additional 30 seconds.
- Dip the caramel peanut mounds into the chocolate, tap off excess chocolate, and place back onto baking sheets to harden.
- Let fully harden for 30 minutes in the refrigerator before eating or storing in covered containers for holiday gifts.
Nutrition
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I think I’ll use salted cashews instead of peanuts, just my preference.
These are absolutely delicious!!! They are easy to make. Looking forward to making them for Christmas gifts.
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
What a great idea for gifts! Thank you Jennifer for the five star review.
Just made these today. Omg…These are the most DELICIOUS caramel peanut chocolate clusters ever! This recipe is going down in my recipe card. Thank you for sharing!
I may be missing it, but when do I add vanilla extract? Making these soon and I know they will be great! Thank you.
Great catch! Add it with the heavy cream to microwave, updated the recipe card. Thank you!
You mention using a microwave bowl to melt caramel but it looks like you are using a cast iron pan…..am I wrong?
Cindy, you are not wrong! Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are working to fix the recipe card and content. You may use either method to melt caramel. Enjoy!
Says 12 servings, and 367 cal per serving but my question is how many pieces in a serving? Thank you. Sound delicious
I’d say about 3 pieces would be one serving. I hope you enjoy them!
Can unsalted peanuts work with maybe adding a little salt somewhere?!
Sabrina, these sound yummy! Could I use Kraft Caramel Bits instead of the chewy caramels?
Thanks–keep up the good work!
Of course! Enjoy!