Recipes from Grandmary -- Peanut Clusters

Grandmary recently spent her 13-week “sabbatical/grandmother family leave” whipping up various creations for her sons and grandchildren. One of the concoctions that were requested were these Peanut Clusters that Jed/Max Jr. asked … nay, demanded that Grandmary make. To emphasize the point that he really wanted these treats, he handed over a bag of Spanish peanuts, his cast iron skillet, and his kid. I saw Drew later, but I never saw the Peanut Clusters. I think my brother ate them all himself.

When I was trying to get some background on the recipe, Grandmary did cop to the fact that she actually got the recipe from her Aunt Ruby, one of her mother’s sisters. It may be a southern recipe that Ruby and Ollie J had growing up on the family farm, way down in North Carolina.

Grandmary/Aunt Ruby’s Peanut Clusters

2 cups raw peanuts [used Planters unsalted, dry roasted]
1 cup sugar [white]
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup water

Place all of the ingredients in a large thick pot* and cook at a slow boil until it crystallizes, approximately 11 minutes. Pour on a cookie sheet. Bake in oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. Stir. Bake for 15 more minutes. Take out of oven and let cool.

*Grandmary says that a cast iron skillet is best.

I don't have an iron skillet, so I used a coated saucepan. It took longer than 11 minutes for me to feel like the boil had crystallized. The sauce turned thicker and started to turn brown before I turned out the mix on a sprayed down cookie sheet. After the first 15 minutes of baking in the pre-heated 300 degree oven, the peanuts still didn't look or smell done. The second 15 minutes of baking gives them more of the golden brown color.

Aunt Ruby with Elle and Amber, March 2010

Courtesy of J