Maple-Chipotle Peanuts

I’ve had so many people say to me lately, “Can you believe it’s almost Thanksgiving?” I don’t know what’s surprising about it to people but it’s no shock to me. Maybe it’s that I think about food all the time and have been thinking about what I want to make for Thanksgiving since the calendar changed to November. Either way, yes, Thanksgiving is this Thursday so I hope everyone is ready. It’ll be low key for me, just me and my cousin, so I have no stress in making a ton of food. But if you have a bunch of people coming by and wonder how you’ll get everything done, consider making these Maple-Chipotle Peanuts if you need a quick and easy, no stress, no fuss appetizer that can be made ahead of time.

Maple syrup and chipotle chile pepper are simmered together until slightly thickened and then mixed with dry-roasted peanuts. Once cooled, the result is sweet, salty, and spicy peanuts that are seriously addictive. Once the peanuts cool, the peanuts become ooey and gooey and it’s hard to not want to shove your face into these. Once they’ve cooled overnight, the syrup hardens, the gooeyness is gone and the peanuts become candied. Whichever way you prefer, these are amazing. The smell of these peanuts reminded me of being at a carnival or my county fair as a kid for some reason. I realized that if I continued to eat these peanuts at the rapid rate I was, there was a good chance I would have devoured an entire container of peanuts in two days. So consider yourself warned. If you have a lot of guests coming, you might want to make two batches. And if you have any leftover, throw a handful on top of some pumpkin ice cream. Yum!