Peanut Clusters

Total Time: 24 hrs 10 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 24 hrs

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) bag chocolate chips
• 6 ounces cans dry roasted salted peanuts
• 3 -4 sprigs fresh mint, to garnish serving dish

Recipe

• 1 before starting, prepare a cookie-sheet by covering it with a sheet of wax or parchment paper, and make enough room in your freezer for this tray to fit.
• 2 pour the chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl and melt them until**just soft enough to stir**-- the chips don't have to change shape before they can be considered melted.
• 3 while the chocolate is still warm, pour a few of the nuts into the bowl.
• 4 stir with a spoon until they are covered with chocolate, then pour a few more in, and repeat-- try to judge when no more nuts can be completely covered in chocolate- stop before you get to that point.
• 5 it should be about 6oz of peanuts per 10oz of chocolate.
• 6 use a tablespoon to drop a bit of the mixture onto the cookie sheet setup.
• 7 remember, you only wanted your chocolate soft enough to stir-- by now, since it will have cooled a little, the mixture should not be very runny, it should be fairly tight-- your clusters should look the exact size and shape of the way you are about to lay them out-- unlike regular cookies which you might space out because they will spread.
• 8 immediately put the full cookie sheet in the freezer.
• 9 they are best left overnight, but should be ready in a minimum of 15-30 minutes.
• 10 keep in mind that the chocolate will start to"sweat" then melt very soon after these are served- the colder, the better (also, a good reason to take them back into the freezer, rather than leaving them out on the table after you have served them).
• 11 they look great piled onto a glass dish with sprigs of mint sticking out of the layers.
• 12 in my experience, people will only take one, though semi-sweet chocolate, which goes well with the salt of the peanuts, will leave an aftertaste that should be chased with milk, wine, or another cookie cluster.