Muddy Buddies {PB & Choco Crunch}

A few weeks ago I mentioned Muddy Buddies in my Sweet and Sour Meatball post.   And sure enough there were comments and emails asking what the heck they were.  Some of you have probably heard of this addictive little snack referred to as “Puppy Chow” but I refuse to call anything this delicious by a name referring to dog food.  That’s just gross.  (I know I know, “mud” isn’t all that much tastier than dog food, but still…)

My little sister made these several times when we were all together for Christmas this past year and it instantly took us back to our childhood days when my Mom would bring them to our neighborhood pool and we’d sit in the sun and snack after a long afternoon of playing in the water.

Now I make them with my own kids and we love that they’re super quick, super easy, and super delicious!

It all starts with this crunchy cereal.  You can use any variety of Chex. There’s like a million different flavors now like rice, corn, wheat, and hello- chocolate!  I for one choose plain ol’ rice and I go with a cheap-o store brand,

because let’s be  honest.  The cereal is basically a carrier, or skeleton if you will -to get the chocolate mixture into your mouth (as opposed to just eating it with a spoon from the bowl.)  Kind of like the purpose of fruit for this fruit dip, or chips for this dish, or anything that sits under under a pool of Buttermilk Caramel.

So just dump the cereal in a big bowl.  Similar to making Caramel Corn, you’ll want to use a bowl that’s larger than you think  you need.

The next part is super easy because you just make it right in the microwave.  Melt some chocolate chips along with some butter and peanut butter.  Three of my most favorite ingredients all in one bowl.  I can’t tell you how that warms my heart. (I’m making a little mini-batch for these photos)

Just melt until smooth and stir it up.  You’ll add a little vanilla at this point too.

Stir it all up and you’ll have a gooey chocolaty mess.  The powdered sugar is going to remedy this problem.  Traditionally you put the mix in a zip-lock bag and shake it around with some powdered sugar.  I find it much easier (and more practical) to just dump the powdered sugar right in the bowl and stir it up.

The sugar sticks to the wet chocolate and makes everything all pretty and snowy looking.  If you can resist eating them all right now, dump them out onto some foil or waxed paper for the chocolate to harden a bit.

Store in an airtight container, or just start munching!

Fabulous party food, and fun for kiddos to help make and eat.  My boys devour this stuff.