Not only was this my first time making puppy chow (which I have always referred to as Reindeer Poop), this was my first time trying it as well. Seeing as it was known as Poop in my head, I was not especially attracted to this version of Chex-Mix – until now.
This recipe is inspired by my friend, colleague, and gym-partner who requested it as part of her birthday month. We discussed the potential in making it a fall food verses the traditional Christmas time (hello, reindeer) snack. There are many options to intensify the fall-ness of puppy chow as it is versatile and easy to improve. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice to the chocolate to spice things up. If you are serving this immediately, rather than storing it for a week’s snack, you could add bites of apple.
Get creative and make it your own.
Take-Home Tips: The butter in the chocolate may be optional. I am not convinced it is necessary. Fold the chocolate into the Chex like you would a meringue; being gentle but getting the chocolate to the bottom of the Chex too. The Chex is sturdy but be gentle to avoid too much breakage. If you want your mix to still be a chocolate color, use 1 or 1.5 cups of powdered sugar rather than the whole 2 cups. For easy clean up, line your baking sheet with wax paper before pouring out the Chex into as even a layer as possible. When combining the remaining ingredients with the powdered Chex, it helps to sift some powdered sugar off before mixing together. If you can find small (1 inch) pretzel rods, use those, or the square pretzels. I couldn’t find one that small so I got pretzel sticks and broke them up.
Scoring: 9 of 10. Everyone raved about how perfect this chow tastes. A good balance between sweet and salty, however it could be a little saltier considering the amount of powdered sugar. My friend does not recommend nuts, but I thought some cashews would be good. There are other savory options like sesame sticks and Gold Fish. If you cannot find the pumpkin pie M&Ms, there are candy corns (some love, some hate), other flavors of M&Ms (hazelnut, original, peanut butter, white chocolate), Reese’s mini peanut butter cups, or dried fruits (raisins or cranberries).
Food of the Month 