Roasted Spanish Peanut Clusters

Christmas is just around the corner, and it's time to start thinking about holiday baking - cookies, chocolates, candies, and treats - once again. If you're looking for an extra-easy, extra-special edible stocking-stuffer, why not try this lovely Roasted Spanish Peanut Clusters recipe?

It's hard to remember these days, but Christmas doesn't have to be all about expensive and impressive gift-giving. Sometimes the best gifts are the one we make ourselves. These little chocolate peanut clusters would make the perfect gift for that dear friend or how about Mom and Dad? You can never go wrong with chocolate recipes, and you can never go wrong when you make them yourself. In fact, I've made a very similar chocolate nut cluster recipe myself for many Christmas seasons now. This one calls for Spanish peanuts which are totally yummy, but I often use variations depending on what kind of ingredients I have in my cupboard. Truly, your nut cluster recipe can be as minimalist or as jam-packed as you want it. I also use two different kinds of chips � semi-sweet chocolate and butterscotch. I melt them together in a stove-top double boiler and stir them until they're completely blended. I find the butterscotch chips gently sweeten the bitter chocolate, and they make the mixture extra creamy. Once it reaches the perfect consistency, I add the rest of my ingredients.

What kind of ingredients? Well, I've added almonds, pistachios, cashews, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, walnuts, hazel nuts, pecans, and even crunchy granola! I've also added chow mein noodles, raisins, cranberries, rice Krispies, and coconut. Truly, your imagination is the only limit when it comes to these kinds of chocolate clusters. But let's get back to the Roasted Spanish Peanut Clusters � at least, for now.

It only takes a few minutes to make this awesome candy recipe. So why not make a whole lot, like several batches? And how about going to the dollar store and buying some cute little baking tins, all decorated for Christmas? When your chocolate peanut clusters are done, wrap them up in cellophane, place them in the tins, and give them out to your favourite people. You can also use Christmas gift bags in the same way. This is a simple but very meaningful way to tell someone how much you care. This roasted peanut cluster recipe comes to us from Sue over at the �View from the Great Island� blog. Sue is the cook, baker, writer, editor, and photographer of this website and she's responsible for this very simple yet very yummy chocolate peanut recipe. Sue is very interested in all kinds of food, the more variety she has the better � and for this reason, she offers a great variety of meal ideas over at her website.

Sue took a break from Halloween this year, as so many of us did. Instead of answering the door every few minutes, she put a big bowl of candy on the doorstep with a note asking people to help themselves! Inside the house, she quietly made her very own batch of Roasted Spanish Peanut Clusters and ate them while watching her favourite movies. Shhhhh..... Don't tell anyone! But can you really blame her? It sounds like a wonderful idea to me. And why wait for Halloween? Or Christmas, for that matter? You can make these sweet little chocolate babies any time of the year, and you don't even have to give them to anybody. Every once in a while, it's always a good idea to eat a whole batch yourself!