(Slow Cooker) Chocolate Peanut Clusters with Sea Salt

Yield: 6-7 dozen clusters

Ingredients

2 (16-ounce) jars dry roasted peanuts (you won’t use the entire second container)
1 (12-ounce bag) dark chocolate chips (like Ghirardelli or Guittard)
1 (4-ounce) bar semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped or broken (like Hershey’s or Baker)
1 (24-ounce) package chocolate almond bark or melting chocolate (see notes*)
Coarse sea salt

1. Place 4 1/2 to 5 cups of the peanuts in a 6-quart slow cooker.** (Cindy always uses the whole first jar of peanuts and between 1/2 and 2/3 of the second. There are roughly 3 cups of peanuts per jar, and I used 4 1/2 cups of peanuts.) Layer the remaining ingredients in a 6-quart slow cooker, and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir the mixture and cook 10-20 minutes more or until everything is just melted. (Avoid letting the chocolate cook too long. Even on low, a slow cooker can scorch chocolate if left too long.)
2. Using a spoon or small- to medium-size cookie scoop, scoop mounds of the clusters into paper-lined miniature muffin tins. (See tip.) Sprinkle very lightly with the sea salt. Allow to sit at room temperature until completely set, 1 to 2 hours. The clusters can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. They also freeze very well.

* Cindy uses vanilla or chocolate “almond bark,” which doesn’t actually have almonds in it. Melting chocolate is a good substitute. You may use white, milk, or semi-sweet– or a combination of–melting chocolate. (In this batch, I used half semi-sweet and half white chocolate melting wafers.)
**If you don’t have a slow cooker or simply prefer to use a double boiler to melt the chocolate mixture, I would recommend cutting the recipe in half. As written, the recipe is too large for most double boilers.
Tip: You can purchase sturdy foil liners that don’t require a muffin tin, but the tin does help to support the candies and maintain their shape. I have one 24-count mini muffin tin. Once I filled it, I put it in the refrigerator to firm up the chocolate more quickly, leaving the remaining mixture in the turned-off slow cooker with the lid on. When the chocolate became too firm to easily scoop by the third tin refill, I turned the cooker on low for 10-15 minutes before proceeding.