Monday, December 21, 2009

Christmas Stocking Treats

Let's start with this: my husband loves chocolate covered peanuts. He even has a favorite brand that is only available at Walmart.

For his Christmas stocking, I thought it would nice to make the chocolate covered peanuts myself. This is all very tricky, since we both work from home (read: we're both home all the time) and I don't want him to know what I'm doing until I tell him Christmas morning. Furthermore, I don't do much cooking, so any activity I do in the kitchen is subject to suspicion.

I found out that it's really easy to make and doesn't require many ingredients. I waited until he went to bed last night and then went into the kitchen and started making the chocolate covered nuts.

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup milk-chocolate morsels
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup peanuts
1" candy cups (I used 1" paper muffin cups)

Separate out about 50 of the candy cups.
Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. I did it at 30-second intervals and stirred it each time.
Add the cashews to the melted chocolate and blend until all the cashews are covered.
Use two spoons to pull out groups of 3 cashews and place them in a candy cup.
After all the cashews are pulled out of the chocolate, add the peanuts and blend until all the peanuts are covered.
Use two spoons to pull out groups of 5 or 6 peanuts and place them in a candy cup.
Place the filled cups on a tray (I used a cookie sheet).
Transfer the filled cups to a container that will go in the refrigerator.
Seal it airtight and leave in the refrigerator overnight.

This is how far I've gone with the recipe. I intend to remove each clump from the cups, put them in groups of four, wrap them in plastic wrap, and place them in the Christmas stocking.

I hope I will be able to get them out of the paper cups without the paper sticking to the chocolate. If my husband takes a nap this afternoon, I'll find out then!

UPDATE: Husband did take an afternoon nap (yay). I took advantage of that time and brought the chocolates out of the refrigerator. The chocolates separate from the paper cups very easily and I think the paper cups can be reused. I think it helped that they were still cold. Ironically, at that time of the day (4pm on the first day of winter) the sun was streaming onto my work area and started melting the chocolate!

I wrapped them in clear plastic wrap (Saran wrap) and tied them with a bow. They look really pretty. It made about six packages of 7-8 clusters. I put those six packages in a brown paper bag (to conceal it from prying husband-eyes) and put the bag in the refrigerator. They are going to get crushed somewhat when I put them in the stocking, but I think that will be okay. If I were to give these away as gifts, I wouldn't use the plastic wrap because its kind of sticky and feels too homemade for me.

I have another item I want to make for the stocking: Cinnamon Sugar Crusted Pecans. That recipe requires the mixer (read: loud) so I'll have to do them Wednesday afternoon when husband is out of the house.

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