When was the last time you added a topping to your ice cream cone? I remember when I was a kid I used to LOVE getting my ice cream cone dipped into that thin candy wax coating that perfectly formed that crust around the cone adding this extra sweet pop of flavor to each bite. At the local Tasty Freeze near our house growing up, they would add little eyeball candy to it to make it extra special. It was at this moment I learned how much I love ice cream toppings. When I grew up I discovered this magical topping of sprinkles and crushed peanuts from my cousin called “crunchy coat.” I thought “I’ve had ice cream with crushed peanuts and sprinkles before and it was never this magical.” This was a total treat to my inner child figuring out the perfect ratio of candied peanuts to sprinkle. I had no idea this recipe would be so easy and I had no idea how much I would be using this with every scoop of my ice cream. Your kids will thank you for this one.

What’s more exciting than a pop of rainbow sprinkles on your ice cream? Peanuts! Candied peanuts or brittle sounds more complicated than it is. The recipe starts very simply with water and sugar in a saute pan over high heat. That’s the easy part. The hard part is just standing by and not stirring while you wait for your sugar to lightly turn brown. As the sugar mixture cooks and slowly starts to evaporate out all of the water, the bubbles will get slower and your sugar will start to turn golden on the sides. Very gently swirl the pan around to mix the evenly spread brown color. Add your crushed peanuts when the sugar mixture is very pale yellow with a wooden spoon. Stir your peanuts gently to coat each nut in sugar and you will watch the sugar start to harden around each piece. Pour your mixture out onto a non-stick mat or pre-greased parchment paper to let the sugar cool and harden. You did it!

It’s important to pre-chop your peanuts so most of the surface gets coated in sugar. When the peanut brittle cools you add it to a ziplock bag and then it’s time for the fun part of SMASHING the peanuts with a meat mallet. Crush them up to the size of your sprinkles then pour into a bowl. Toss with however many sprinkles your heart desires and remember that the more sprinkles you add the bulkier this stuff gets! Which I like because it stays in an air-tight container for months when you’re done. That’s the beauty of doing this at home. Say goodbye to that expensive little jar of crushed peanuts you bought to make sundaes for!

There’s nothing quite like sprinkles that get kids excited for food. Give these away in little goodie bags at your next kid’s birthday party. These are the fun treats kids want. It makes for an excellent Christmas gift or sundae station.

I’m excited to keep playing with this recipe to see what other fun variations of this nutty sweet topping can be! Chocolate sprinkles? Candied almonds or hazelnuts? I hope this recipe gets you as happy as this makes me. I promise there is nothing more exciting than seeing these beautiful colors come to life!