This recipe was inspired by a creation from Beth Royals, a contest cook who enters and wins hundreds of cooking competitions. Not surprisingly, she made it to the finals of the upcoming Bake-Off with one of her clever ideas. In this case, she took a roll of pie dough (the sponsor product), cut it into squares, baked the pie crust squares, tossed them with white chocolate and peanuts and called them Peanutty Pie Crust Clusters.
Here's a picture of the dough after it was baked and transformed into Peanutty Pie Crust Clusters.
Then tossed them with a mixture of melted white chips, peanut butter, peanuts and toffee bits to make little candies.
At first glance the recipe reminded me of Clodhoppers, but it's actually quite different and the baked pie crust is much richer than cereal. Very rich, in fact.
I really loved the flavor, but after making Beth's recipe I decided to change things up a bit and use pretzels instead of pie dough squares. I liked the lighter, saltier texture of the pretzels. Then again, I wasn't in the position of having to use a sponsor product! All in all, I thought Beth's use of pie dough was smart -- especially since the refrigerated dough comes in packs of two and there's usually one left (unless you're pie crust double-upper which is a whole different discussion).
Here's my small batch recipe for the pretzel version. If you like it, double it or quadruple! Or try the pie dough version.
Recipe
White Chocolate Pretzel Peanut Candies
Ingredients
- 1 ounce of broken light and crispy pretzels (about ¾ cup)
- 2 tablespoons toffee bits
- 2 tablespoons lightly salted peanuts
- ½ cup 3 ounces Ghirardelli white chips
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon creamy peanut butter mainstream type like Jif
Instructions
- Line a baking tray with nonstick foil or parchment paper.
- Mix together the broken pretzels, toffee bits and peanuts and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the white chips, coconut oil and peanut butter and stir to coat chips in oil and peanut butter. Microwave at about 40% power for 20 seconds and stir. Repeat, stirring at 20 or 30 second intervals (if you have a more powerful microwave, you might want to go with the 20 seconds) until white chocolate mixture is creamy and smooth.
- Add the pretzel mixture and stir to coat. Add more or pretzels/peanuts/toffee if needed. Dry bits should be coated with white chocolate mixture
- Drop spoonfuls of candy mixture onto the lined tray and chill until firm.
Notes
Darlene says
Our family would love your pretzel version (have to have the salt with the sweet!). I did something similar with bags of caramel popcorn that were on clearance at Walmart. I poured one bag of caramel popcorn on a small cookie sheet, sprinkled the popcorn with dry roasted peanuts and broken pretzel pieces. Then, I melted dark chocolate wafers in the microwave and heavily drizzled that on top of everything. (If you're in a hurry, pop the tray in the refrigerator for a minute for the chocolate to harden.) My (inexpensive) version of Harry & David's Moose Munch.
Anna says
Shirley, they are really good. I got less of a stomachache eating the pretzel version. The baked pie dough adds more richness which I don't think the candy needs, while the pretzel added bulk and made the candy less fatty. Not that it's diet candy, but the pretzel lightens it up somewhat.
Shirley D says
I, too, thought Beth's PBO entry looked very creative ... and tasty. Haven't made it .. but then haven't made any of the 100. I don't think I've made any of the pretzel clusters like you have .. .they look good too. Not sure if I will... but thanks for the idea.