These crunchy candied peanuts are so moreish! Sweet and savoury with a toffee-like coating of sugar, salt, sesame and chilli, they're a brilliant edible gift for Christmas.
Put the sugar and water in a large non-stick frypan and stir over a low to medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Add the peanuts and keep stirring.
Stir, stir, stir.
Keep stirring for about 10-15 minutes. The sugar mixture will go through a range of stages as it melts and caramelises. You'll eventually end up with a dark, shiny and toffee like glaze which coats the peanuts perfectly. I like to take mine quite dark so that it has a little bittersweet flavour to it, but you have to be really careful not to burn the nuts at the end. If you're worried take them off the heat and stop once they're golden brown.
Quickly stir through the salt, chilli, cocoa and sesame seeds, then scrape the nuts out onto a silicon mat or baking paper.
Allow to cool and harden, then break the nuts into small clumps.
Makes approximately 2 cups. Depending on who you're making these for, you could make one, two, three or four gifts from this recipe. Dad will be getting a whole recipe's worth all to himself!