Addictive Coconut-Coffee Candied Peanuts

Ingredients

• Raw, skin-on peanuts. Or skin-on almonds also work well with these. It is important that they are skin-on otherwise they coating will not stick. More on this under Choosing the Right Peanuts below.
• Sugar
• Ovaltine powder, Milo powder, or cocoa powder. Ovaltine or Milo are chocolate malt drink mixes that are popular in Asia, though cocoa powder will work fine. There's no need to buy a whole jar of Ovaltine for this recipe, unless of course you wanna try it! Kids adore Ovaltine drinks, and I like to sprinkle the the powder on toast with some condensed milk!
• Instant coffee granules. This will give a depth of flavour that goes so incredibly well with the coconut milk, but it's subtle enough that you probably won't notice it you didn't know. Though if you want it to taste more distinctly of coffee, feel free to add more. Typically we use Nescafe instant coffee, but Starbucks Via will also work. I've not tried super finely ground coffee beans but you can experiment with it!
• Coconut milk
• Water
• Fine grain salt such as table salt. It's very important that you use fine grain salt because coarse salt will not adhere well to the peanuts, and it won't distribute evenly.
• Toasted white sesame seeds. Make sure they are toasted otherwise they won't be aromatic. They definitely add an extra nutty dimension to these!

Choice of cookware: You're gonna be doing a lot of stirring, so choose something large enough that you can stir comfortably without the peanuts jumping out. A large wok like I used in the video is perfect since there are no corners, making it easy for you to scrape the sugar, but a large dutch oven will also work. A non-stick surface is also helpful as the sugar will not stick to it and makes it easier to scrape the sugar off the pan. 

Watch The Video Tutorial

This is one recipe that I really recommend you watching the video tutorial above before you proceed. It's important to recognize the stages that the sugar will go through.

All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials. If you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!

How to Make Candied Peanuts

Here are all the steps involved, but again, this is one recipe that I really recommend you watching the video tutorial above before you proceed, especially if you've never made stovetop candied nuts before!

1. Spread the peanuts onto a plate and pick out any that look "unwell," like ones that are skinny or look shriveled. Remember to replace them with healthy ones so you keep the proper amount.
2. If your sesame seeds are not yet toasted, toast them in a dry pan over medium high heat, stirring constantly until golden brown and aromatic. Remove and set aside.
3. Prepare a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat to put the nuts on once they are done.
4. In a wok or a large pot, preferably nonstick, combine the water, sugar, coconut milk, Ovaltine and instant coffee. Turn the heat on medium high and stir with a rubber spatula just until the sugar is dissolved.
5. Once sugar is dissolved, add the peanuts and bring to a simmer. Turn heat to medium low to maintain a simmer, then keep cooking, stirring occasionally, until the syrup starts to thicken, about 10 minutes for this amount.
6. Once the syrup looks thick, you want to be stirring all the time, scraping the bottom with the rubber spatula constantly. Keep the heat medium-low throughout.
7. From this point onward, you have to really pay attention: Keep stirring until the sugar gets so thick that is starts to crystalize, and it will look at first like wet sand. Keep stirring, and eventually the sugar will look dry and powdery, and all the peanuts should be evenly coated in the sugar. DO NOT STOP STIRRING AT THIS STAGE. Sprinkle the salt on evenly over the peanuts and keep tossing.
8. As you keep going, it will feel like nothing is happening for a bit, but then the sugar around the peanuts will start to melt again, and the peanuts will start to get wet spots. Once all of the peanuts have some wet spots on them, sprinkle on the sesame seeds as evenly as you can, and toss well to coat. DO NOT let the sugar liquefy too much; you want just SOME wet spots on all of the peanuts so the sesame seeds have something to stick on (see video for what this should look like).
9. Once the nuts are coated in sesame seeds, transfer onto the prepared baking sheet to cool, spreading the peanuts apart so they don't stick to each other.
10. Let cool completely before eating. These can be stored in an airtight container for several weeks, but let's face it, they will not last that long!

Tip for Success #1: Choosing The Right Peanuts

You want raw skin-on peanuts for this recipe, preferably larger ones. The raw part isn't as important as the skin-on part, but I don't think they sell roasted skin-on peanuts!

The skin does two very important things:

1. Keeps the peanuts whole and not split, this is important because it affects the candy-to-peanut ratio; split peanuts will have too much sugar around them per piece, and
2. It help provide friction so the candy coating can stay on evenly. As you may discover, if some of the skins fall off during cooking, those naked peanuts won't have much sugar coating on them because the surface is too slippery.

You can find skin-on peanuts at most Asian supermarkets, but don't even bother looking at Western stores (at least in Canada), I went just about everywhere and there were NONE to be found! If you have a choice, choose larger peanuts.

Tip for Success #2: Making a Large Batch

If this is your first time I recommend making just one recipe just to see what the process is like. Making a large batch will increase the amount of time significantly, so additional patience is required.

If making a bigger batch, there is no need to increase the amount of water. After adding the coconut milk, add only enough water to submerge all the peanuts (which may be none at all). Any excess water will only add cooking time because it all has to be cooked off.

FAQ: Can You Use Other Nuts?

YES! But if you want to try other nuts keep a few things in mind:

1. The shape. I tried these with mixed nuts just to see how different nuts perform and found that pecans, because of their flat shape and the grooves, ended up with too much sugar for my liking. I would imagine the same would be the case for walnuts. Again, it's all about the surface area-to-volume ratio for optimal sweetness. Cashews also didn't get as even of a coating because of the irregular shape, and the candy coating slipped off a bit cuz they are also slippery. Not to say that you can't use these nuts, I just found that the result wasn't ideal.
2. The skin. As mentioned above, the skin is important in getting the coating to stick on evenly, so don't use blanched almonds, for example.
3. Of the mixed nuts I tried, unblanched almonds were my favourite in all respects—flavour, crunch, size, evenness of coating, and they're widely available! You CAN use roasted almonds too if you cannot find raw ones. FYI pistachios are similarly shaped to peanuts and performed well in the way they looked, but they're not as crunchy and the flavour didn't work as well.

Common Issue: My Nuts Were Soft!

Most people who have made this recipe reported success, but a couple have mentioned that the peanuts were still soft inside, tasting like boiled peanuts. This has never happened to me, but I think I know why and how you can prevent it.

The way this recipe works is that in the beginning, the peanuts are boiling in the combination of syrup and water and they are simply cooked through. But as the water evaporates, what's left in the pan is molten sugar, which can get extremely hot. Eventually, this super hot sugar "roasts" the peanuts and turn them into crunchy and roasted nuts. When you cut open the peanuts, it should look just like you used roasted peanuts.

If your peanuts come out still soft inside, my theory of why this happens is that your heat was too high, so the sugar ended up evaporating and crystallizing too fast, and the nuts did not have time to roast through. This is a theory, but it seems to make sense. In Thailand where they make these in large batches it would not be a problem as a large batch simply takes much longer, giving the nuts a lot of time to do their thing.

To prevent it, make sure you use low or medium-low heat throughout. For the amount in the recipe below it should take you 20-25 minutes minimum. If you're done faster than that, and the nuts come out soft, that would be why.

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