Chocolate Honey Nut Becoming Thicker and Dryer

Hi there,

I was really hoping to get some help with a chocolate spread I make. I think the honey is the issue, but I'm not sure why, and as it's the USP I can't really take it out! lol

It's 30% roasted peanuts, 27% honey, 25% peanut oil, 16.5% cocoa, soya lecithin and sea salt

The spread 'crystallises' and goes thicker / harder / crumbly especially when cold and exposed to air. This can be reversed when gently heated, although the texture and flavour is not quite as good.

I had thought this might be the honey crystallising (although the honey as an ingredient alone doesn't crystallise when cold). The addition of lecithin as an emulsifier has helped, but I wondered if a stabiliser like xanthan gum might improve the mixture more and help to prevent this?

Having said this, I add the honey at the end of the recipe and it makes the thin, oily peanut mixture into a thick viscose one in the blender - and the spread also gets thicker over time when stored.....so maybe adding xanthan would only make this worse?

As I'm unsure what chemical process is taking place I thought you might have some advice or ideas as I'm struggling to understand what is going on!

Many thanks,
Nicola