Chocolate Crock Pot Candy

It is always a good thing when you like the people you work with. I have two dear friends in my office that teach me how to be domestic on a daily basis. One of them, Julie, is the quintessential city-girl-gone-country, thanks to her (precious) small-town husband she met at a funeral. Yep! Packed herself up and moved all the way up here from big-time Dallas! Anyway, she bounced into work the other day with these little goodies, which she calls Crock Pot Candy. I only ate two four, and then not only asked for the recipe, but asked her to go with me to the store to make sure I got the right stuff, because these things are GOOD. And EASY. My two favorite things!  Dang. I want to eat one right now. I think I will......

OK...The full recipe is at the bottom if you'd rather skip the photo play-by-play.

First things first - your ingredients. This makes a LOT of candy. Julie has two adolescent boys and a husband, so it's no wonder she likes this recipe! :)

On these, the only thing that might throw you for a loop is the two different kinds of peanuts - you want one bottle of UNSALTED and one bottle of SALTED. If you can't find salted (I couldn't), a bottle of Dry Roasted Peanuts is also just fine.

Now get out your crock pot, and start by layering the peanuts, unsalted first. Pour out the whole bottle and then pour the whole bottle of salted/dry roasted.

Next cut up your german chocolate bar into squares and layer it, followed by the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Finally, cut your almond bark (yes two packages) into squares and place it in on top. I must pause here for a shoutout to my BFF Cathy, because she works for the company that makes Ginsu knives, and she hooked me up with one that made this a LOT easier!! If you are in the market for a good knife I recommend them - you can buy on Amazon!

Now, turn your crock pot on low for three hours. DO NOT STIR IT. DO NOT STIR IT. DO NOT STIR IT. Before the end of the 3 hours you may smell a slight burning smell - do not panic. This is the peanuts roasting on the bottom. It will be glorious if you just wait it out, I promise.

Instead, go pour yourself a glass of Christmas Cheer and wrap some presents while you wait. Also, please note my Holiday Mantra: Christmas Calories Don't Count. These are great words to live by from Thanksgiving to New Years.

After 3 hours, turn your crock pot off and get to stirrin'!

Cover your countertops with wax paper, and if I were you I would double my wax paper layers. This mixture is pretty hot and I would not want it to melt the wax paper and stick to your counters. I say cover your countertops because remember I said this makes a LOT of candy.

Spoon onto the wax paper in big tablespoon sized hunks and let it cool for two hours (or until they are hard).

ENJOY! It made so much I stuck some in a mason jar with some twine and a card and gave to the neighbors as a Christmas gift (which they LOVED). Thanks Jules for getting me hooked on this!!

FULL RECIPE:

CHOCOLATE CROCK POT CANDY

Ingredients

1 jar unsalted peanuts

1 jar salted (or dry roasted) peanuts

2 packages white almond bark, cut in squares

1 8oz German chocolate bar, cut in squares

1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips

Layer all ingredients in crock pot in this order, starting on the bottom:

unsalted peanuts, salted peanuts, german chocolate bar, semi-sweet chocolate chips, almond bark

Cook on low 3 hours. DO NOT STIR.

After 3 hours, turn off crock pot and stir until all ingredients are mixed together. Spoon in big tablespoons onto wax paper (double wax paper layers) and cool 2 hours. Makes about 50 pieces.

Merry Christmas!!