Sharing a super quick and easy recipe for these Chocolate Peanut Clusters we’ve been stashing away in the fridge for the last couple weeks. You are going to love these! They are a wonderful sweet and salty treat, a rather close cousin to my beloved Salt River Bars.
All we have to do is melt milk chocolate chips with some butterscotch chips and peanut butter, and then fold in peanuts, pretzels, and caramel bits. Drop them by the spoonful onto a baking sheet and chill. Done! This is a really fun recipe to make with kids. You can’t mess it up!
Have you seen these adorable little pretzel rounds in your grocery store yet? They are a new product from Snyder’s of Hanover, and I just love them. They are very light and crisp, and have a subtle butter flavor. The moment I laid eyes on them, I knew they would be fun to work into a recipe. So far, I’ve seen them at Safeway and Albertsons. If you can’t find them near you, just use mini pretzels or chopped pretzel sticks.
What I love about these Chocolate Peanut Clusters is that you can mix anything you have on hand into that chocolate peanut butter base. I’ve added cereal, like Chex or Rice Krispies, and also old fashioned oats. So as long as you keep the ratio of chocolate and mix-ins about the same, it works every time. You can also try sprinkling some Maldon sea salt over the top, but with the salted peanuts and pretzels, I didn’t find they needed any extra saltiness.
Adding peanut butter to the chocolate chips, even just 1-2 tablespoons, keeps the chocolate just slightly soft when chilled. This way it won’t be crumbly when you bite into it. Just perfect!
I love knowing these sweet and salty Chocolate Peanut Clusters are ready and waiting for me in the fridge anytime I need a little treat. You never know when a bite of chocolate, caramel, peanut butter, and butterscotch is in order! Enjoy, friends.
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Chocolate Peanut Clusters
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 minute
- Total Time: 11 minutes
- Yield: 24 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
These super easy Chocolate Peanut Clusters with caramel and pretzels will be your new favorite sweet and salty treat!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup butterscotch chips
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup salted peanuts
- 1 cup pretzel rounds
- 1/2 cup caramel bits
Instructions
- In a microwaveable bowl, melt chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and peanut butter for 45 seconds. Stir, then heat in 15 second intervals until completely smooth and melted. Be careful not to overheat.
- Add peanuts, pretzels, and caramel bits, and stir to coat. Drop by spoonfuls (about 2 tablespoons each) onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Chill for 30 minutes so the chocolate will set. Cover and keep chilled.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cluster
- Calories: 122
- Sugar: 11g
- Sodium: 92mg
- Fat: 6.5g
- Saturated Fat: 2.6g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3.2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 14g
- Fiber: 0.9g
- Protein: 2.7g
- Cholesterol: 2mg
Tess says
Hello Julie,
I was thinking if i can add caramel to the recipe?
Thank you, can’t wait to try this out!!
janet says
Looks so good! Do you think I could use semi sweet or dark chocolate chips instead of the milk chocolate? Thanks!
Julie says
Yes, sure thing!