It’s time to start thinking of Christmas gifts. I must admit I have given some bad gifts in the past and I have gotten some too. Those gift cards to places I would never go to or that self-help book I never read were received with a smile and an “Oh, thanks.” My favorite gift to get is homemade. If someone spends the time to make me something, whatever it is, I will like it. We always made gifts for friends and family growing up. Maybe we didn’t have the money to spend but I never knew that.
I have always made Christmas gifts. If I like you, you get a homemade gift- a crochet or food gift, sometimes both. If I get you a gift card, beware. My sister in-law hated my homemade gifts. She thought they were tacky and cheap. Anyone who knits or crochets knows how expensive yarn is not to mention the time that it takes to create something. She got a lot of gift cards.
One of my go-to homemade gifts is puppy chow. Growing up this recipe was made by all middle school kids in home economics class. Puppy chow was a treat found at sleepovers, birthday parties, and holiday get togethers. I would stand around the bowl choosing the largest clumps of puppy chow leaving the individual pieces for everyone else. Today, I still believe the big clusters taste the best.
Sometimes puppy chow goes by other names, the next most popular being Muddy Buddies, the official name used by General Mills on the box of Chex cereal. It occasionally goes by “monkey munch” or, playing up its Christmastime association, “reindeer chow,” especially when some red M&M’s are added for red Rudolf noses. But most commonly (and always in the Midwest), it is puppy chow.
Puppy chow is a snack mix made of Chex cereal covered in melted chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. The basic recipe looks just like Purina Puppy Chow for dogs but is only for human consumption. It has all the elements of a good party food: sweet, salty, crunchy, and just messy enough to allow you to use “Gotta go wash my hands” as an excuse for leaving an awkward conversation.
Chex cereal first arrived on the market in 1937, made by the Ralston Purina Company of St. Louis, Missouri. Yup, that Purina. The company had adopted the name “chow” for its animal feeds after hearing World War I soldiers call their rations that. The company, which started as a horse-feed company, made dog chow, cat chow, and…cereal? People were a bit confused, and the name “Chex” didn’t catch on immediately.
Midwesterners will happily share recipes of puppy chow going back to the ’60s, but General Mills, the owner and producer of the Chex cereal brand since 1996, says that the Muddy Buddies recipe was developed in 2002. In 2009, the company introduced the packaged version, sold only as a seasonal product until 2011. Now, Muddy Buddies are found in most chip isles year-round. There are easily a hundred versions of puppy chow on Pinterest from strawberry, pistachio, and cake batter to a non-peanut butter version using Biscoff cookie butter. I have included both recipes this week.
Puppy Chow (OG version)
Ingredients
1 box (12 ounces) Corn Chex (or Wheat Chex or Rice Chex)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (not chunky, or try a nut butter you prefer)
1/3 cup butter, cubed
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
Directions
Pour cereal into a large bowl. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Microwave on high 30 seconds. Stir gently. Continue microwaving on high, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and blended. Pour over cereal; gently stir to coat.
In batches, place confectioners’ sugar in a large airtight container, add cereal mixture, close container and shake until well coated. Spread cereal on a baking sheet. Let stand until set. Store in airtight containers.
Puppy Chow (non-peanut butter)
Ingredients
6 cups rice Chex cereal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cookie butter
1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Place the rice Chex cereal into a large bowl. In a medium sized bowl, add in the chocolate chips and cookie butter. Melt the chocolate chips and cookie butter in the microwave. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Microwave for additional 15 second increments until melted.* Pour half the melted chocolate mixture onto the rice Chex cereal. Use a silicone spatula to gently stir without crushing the cereal. Pour in the other half of the chocolate mixture and mix to coat all the rice Chex cereal. Add half the powdered sugar. Mix using a silicone spatula. Add the other half of the powdered sugar. Mix again making sure all the Chex mix cereal is well coated. Enjoy!
*You can also melt on the stovetop, use low heat and stir frequently to prevent burning.
Make sure your bowl is large enough that you are placing the rice Chex into. This recipe is messy so you want to make sure you can stir it without overflowing.
Puppy Chow variations: Change up the cereal; use cinnamon Chex or chocolate Chex to change the flavor. Cake batter puppy chow; use white chocolate chips instead of semisweet chips, and Funfetti or white cake mix instead of the confectioners’ sugar. Brownie batter puppy chow: Shake the coated cereal mixture with a box of dry brownie mix instead of confectioners’ sugar. S’mores puppy chow: Add in some graham cereal and mini marshmallows to freshly prepared puppy chow. Cookies-and-cream puppy chow: Swap out the semisweet chocolate chips for white chocolate chips, and add some chopped or mini-Oreos to create crunchy morsels that taste like cookies and cream. Hot cocoa puppy chow: shake your puppy chow mixture with hot cocoa mix instead of confectioners’ sugar for a rich chocolate-y flavor. White chocolate puppy chow: This is a great variation when you want the color of the puppy chow to match the theme of the occasion, you’re making puppy chow for. After you melt the white chocolate baking chips, add a few drops of your food coloring of choice before tossing it with the cereal. Make green puppy chow for St. Patrick’s Day, pink puppy chow for Valentine’s Day, and more.
