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.
Questions & Reviews
God's PurpleGirl – I've never tried it with popcorn. I imagine it could work, although part of the reason that makes it so great with Chex is that the cereal absorbs the chocolate mixture. So it would be a little different with popcorn. If you try it, let us know how it turns out!
I'm collecting fancy popcorn recipes, and was wondering if this would work with popcorn instead of chex? Would it need to be baked?
Chex cereals have several gluten-free varities (we personally, use Rice chex) and we use Enjoy Life chocolate chips (most store-bought brans of choco chips will have gluten in them unless they state gluten-free…. we also need dairy-free, hence why we use Enjoy life).
And yes… for those allergic to peanuts/tree nuts…. sun butter works VERY well!
And….. last but not least…. McCormick's pure vanilla extract is gluten-free, so enjoy! 🙂 (we use Fleischman's Unsalted margerine instead of butter)
My older son is autistic and is on a gluten and dairy-free diet and he LOVES this snack and it's delicious enough that the whole family can enjoy it! 🙂
I have been making these for many years. I use a large brown grocery bag to put my powdered sugar in and then dump my coated cereal in there. I twist the top and shake it until all of it is well coated. I like mine really white with no chocolate showing through. They look so pretty that way when I put them in cello bags to give away.
Oh My!
YUM!
I don't know about the other folks who know this yummy sugar-high treat as "puppy chow," but I think it's a Midwestern thing. In Missouri and Nebraska this was *the* ultimate snack at parties, sleepovers, post-sports game chowdowns, and more.
Thanks for the happy trip down memory lane!
I have never heard of these but, boy, they are going to get made real quick!!
We make it with Soy butter in our house because we cant do the PB thing. It is awesome!
YUM! I used to make these on my mission in Argentina when we'd get our hands on peanut butter! The people there loved them (and peanut butter in general–it was like gold!) 🙂 I think that I need to make these again!
Made this and loved it! It is so addicting I ate half of it in one night practically!!! I guess I can't have this around too often… hehe