This easy crock pot candy is creamy chocolate peanut clusters, all made with the help of a slow cooker! The perfect treat for the holidays that serves a crowd.
Peanuts and chocolate are a classic combination that never goes out of style. This easy candy can be made in the crock pot with just 5 minutes of prep time. It’s great for holiday parties or to give as gifts along with other treats such as buckeye balls and peppermint bark.
The holidays are here, which means there’s a lot of celebrating and gift giving going on! There are times when I have the energy and patience to sit and decorate intricate holiday cookies by hand, and times where I need a quick hostess gift or party food contribution without a lot of effort.
This crock pot candy is SO simple to make, tastes delicious and looks impressive. It’s perfect for gifts, parties and any time you just need a bite of something sweet. These chocolate peanut clusters will become a tradition in your house! You can also make a Christmas dessert platter with this candy, Christmas crack, rum balls and Christmas wreath cookies.
Table of Contents
Crock Pot Candy Ingredients
This crock pot candy recipe only has 4 ingredients – roasted peanuts, semisweet chocolate chips, white almond bark and holiday sprinkles. See the recipe card below for amounts and details.
- Roasted Peanuts: Look for roasted and shelled peanuts. I like to use a combination of salted and unsalted peanuts.
- Semisweet Chocolate Chips: I use chocolate chips that melt well like Ghirardelli’s and Guittard.
- Almond Bark: If you’re not familiar with almond bark, it typically comes in one pound bricks and is a white candy coating. It’s found near the chocolate chips in the baking aisle of most grocery stores.
- Holiday Sprinkles: Pick any sprinkles you like. I use red and green sprinkles with white snowflake sprinkles. You can use different colors to make crock pot candy all year round. For example, orange and black sprinkles for Halloween or pink and red sprinkles for Valentine’s Day.
How Do You Make Crock Pot Candy?
To make this crock pot candy recipe you will first place peanuts in a slow cooker, then add dark chocolate chips and almond bark on top. Cook everything for an hour, then remove the lid and stir it together. Cover the pot, and cook for a little longer until everything melts together. Stir well, then drop the candy mixture by the spoonful on to a sheet pan. Add a few sprinkles, then let the candy sit until it cools to room temperature and becomes completely firm. Enjoy these Christmas candies!
Tips For The Perfect Crock Pot Candy
- If you can’t find almond bark, you can use white candy melts instead.
- Use parchment paper or a baking mat on your sheet pan or baking sheet to make the crock pot candy easy to lift from the sheet pan.
- Use a small cookie scoop or a spoon to make your dollops of candy.
- This recipe serves a crowd, it will make anywhere from 25-40 pieces depending on the size of your clusters.
- To cool the candy more quickly, after your baking sheet gets close to room temperature, place your baking sheet in the refrigerator to finish cooling.
Quick Tip
You will need a crock pot that has a capacity of at least 4 quarts for this recipe.
Recipe FAQs
The candy will stay fresh for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also freeze your candy for 2 months.
The best way to melt almond bark in a crock pot is to cut it into chunks, then cook it for at least one hour over low heat. The almond bark may still look formed after an hour, but when you stir it, it will reveal a liquid interior and will melt into the rest of the ingredients.
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Flavor Variations
While this crock pot candy is delicious as-is, you can add other ingredients to customize the flavors to your liking.
- Nuts: Feel free to substitute other types of nuts. Some great options include almonds, pecans and walnuts. If you like your candy really sweet, you can try honey roasted peanuts.
- Chocolate: For a sweeter version of the candy you can use milk chocolate chips or try white chocolate chips.
- Add-ins: You can stir in 1/2 cup of rice krispy cereal at the very end of the cooking time to add a little extra texture. Another great option for a last minute add-in is 1/2 cup of raisins.
- Flavorings: You can add a few drops of vanilla extract or peppermint extract for a different flavor.
- Toppings: Instead of sprinkles, you can top your candy with a drizzle of white chocolate, toffee bits, crushed candy canes, mini marshmallows, a pinch of sea salt or finely diced peanuts.
- Peanut Butter Chips: You substitute half of the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips.
How To Serve Crock Pot Candy
These peanut clusters make such a fun and unique homemade gift. I package them up in tins or cellophane bags to give to friends, teachers and neighbors. If you give the candy in a tin, try placing each candy in a cupcake liner for an elegant look.
This may be the easiest holiday treat around, but it looks and tastes like you spent hours on it! Your friends and family will be so impressed that you made your own candy, no one needs to know how easy it was!
More Holiday Candy Recipes
Buckeye Balls (Peanut Butter Balls)
1 hr 2 mins
Candy Cane Hearts
16 mins
Rocky Road Fudge
12 mins
Peppermint Patties Recipe
11 mins
Crock Pot Candy Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Crock Pot Candy
Ingredients
- 1 lb roasted salted peanuts
- 1 lb roasted unsalted peanuts
- 16 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
- 2 lbs white almond bark broken into pieces, or can use white candy melts
- 1/2 cup holiday sprinkles
Instructions
- Place the peanuts in a crock pot. Add the chocolate chips and almond bark on top.
- Cook on LOW for 1 hour. Remove lid and stir. Cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Stir until thoroughly combined.
- Drop tablespoon sized dollops of the candy onto parchment paper, top with sprinkles. Cool until firm, then serve.
Notes
- If you’re not familiar with almond bark, it typically comes in one pound bricks and is a white candy coating. It’s found near the chocolate chips in most grocery stores. If you can’t find almond bark, you can use white candy melts instead.
- You will need a crock pot that has a capacity of at least 4 quarts for this recipe.
Oh my goodness! So many questions! Where is the old fashioned curiosity and ingenuity? I have used this basic recipe for years subbing broken pretzels and coconut for nuts. Using pb chips, butterscotch chips, white chic chips depending on holiday. Sprinkles can be used according to holiday. Those lovely Heath chips for mix-in or sprinkles ware good too. Gosh, just try what sounds like the most fun!
My children wanted me to make this with no nuts. Will it set up ok if you add a little salt to the rest of the ingredients minus nuts?
I wouldn’t recommend making this without nuts. You could try something else to hold it together like stirring in pieces of cookies or graham crackers during the last few minutes. Or even let it cool a bit and then fold in mini marshmallows.
Could u use raisins instead of nutts
You could stir some raisins in at the end with the nuts, but I don’t think the candy would hold its structure if you used all raisins and no nuts.
Can I use all white chocolate and some m& m ;s
That will work, just press the M&Ms into the clusters when you spoon them out.
We just made this today! It’s still warm, but from all the chocolate and peanuts I just licked from the bottom (shh!), it is delicious!
I was honestly adding up the cost as I was dolloping them onto the paper. This would easily be $50+ at the store premade. I found vanilla white chocolate at ALDI in a 24oz container, so I made 3/4 the recipe. Still made a nice amount for our Christmas dessert tray this year!
Thanks for the recipe!
So happy to hear you enjoyed it, Happy Holidays!
I usually throw craisons and a jar of mixed nuts also any other chocolate I have and after done a sprinkle of course salt.
Ends up like the chunky bars from long ago.
Love this idea, I’ll try it next time!
What if you don’t have a crock pot? Can you do this on the stove top? What would be your recommendations for a stove top recipe? There is a Christmas party coming up and I would love to make this.
Thank you
Yes, I’d cook it over low heat just until all the chocolates are melted together. Keep an eye on it and stir on occasion, then drop spoonfuls on parchment to make the candy!
I love making this.. instead of dropping onto parchment I use those tiny muffin liners. Make giving away much easier!!
I think I might try this with almonds.Thanks so much for this easy recipe! The added benefit: the house smells like Christmas!
This will work perfectly with almonds!
once made and packaged with twist ties how long will they last? do they have to be refrigerated so they won’t melt?
They should be good for at least a week, if it’s warm out you could refrigerate, but on a cool day they should be fine at room temperature!
Can shredded coconut be added to this?
Yes that will work, I’d stir it in towards the end!
can the candies be frozen and for how long?
Silly question……the package of almond bark is 24 oz. ( at my store) I read each square is 2 oz. Did you just use 1 package or did you have to buy 2?
The almond bark I typically buy comes in 1 lb packages. If you only want to buy 1 package of the 24 ounce almond bark, you can scale back the number of servings in the recipe to 23 using the slider bar when you click on the servings number in the recipe card.
I made these without the holiday sprinkles since the holiday is over. They were amazing and all of my friends who tried them wanted the recipe!
Can this be frozen or refrigerated to stay longer. How long does it stay? Making it for part of a Christmas gift. Thank
You can refrigerate it for up to a week!
The only place I could find white almond bark was at walmart and the ingredients were awful. Would like to add some coconut oil instead. Will that work? How much? And we like dark chocolate. Thanks much!
Coconut oil won’t work, you can try using real white chocolate, or even milk chocolate chips.
So simple and delicious! Easy clean up too!
Could I just use chocolate..why the white melts in recipe?
The white melts make the chocolate creamier and help stabilize the chocolate so that it stays shiny and doesn’t get that gray film on it that sometimes happens. You could try it without to see how it comes out!
These look delish and so easy. Any idea how many hours it takes for them to set once on the parchment paper, before they can be safely put into a storage tin for a party?
They set up quite quickly, they’re ready in about 45 minutes to an hour.
wondering about adding pecans if so should they be salted or unsalted?
Yes you can use pecans. I like to use half salted, half unsalted because the bit of salt balances out the sweet chocolate. That being said, you could use all unsalted pecans and just add a pinch of salt to the mix! I wouldn’t use all salted pecans, might be overly salty.
I was going to try using pecans as well. Can you tell me if I should halves and cut the in half or just leave them.
You can do it either way, whatever you prefer!
In the instructions the second step says to cook for one hour then stir. During the additional 30 minutes is the cover to remain off? It wasn’t mentioned that the cover was to be put back on, so I’m just checking Thanks
The cover goes back on, I will update the recipe!
Can cashews be substituted for the peanuts? My husband has a peanut allergy
Yes you can use whatever kind of nuts that you like!