Christmas will be here before we know it. Shopping, cooking, eating, Christmas movies, wrapping presents, family. We hope that in the midst of it all, you remember why we celebrate Christmas. Let God’s love hold you close and don’t lose sight of it during all the hustle and bustle that we know is Christmas.
To help, we want to offer two quick and easy Christmas snacks that you can even do with kids! You’ve probably had these or made them yourself, but we love them every Christmas so here we share them with you, just in case you haven’t already tried them before.
Summer’s submission is puppy chow. Our mom has made this as a special treat since our childhood while living on the farm. We have very fond memories of “puppy chow” (if you don’t know, we call it this due to its uncanny resemblance to the dog food known as puppy chow; or at least it was known as puppy chow back then! Don’t worry…this treat certainly doesn’t taste like dog food, or so we assume that dog food doesn’t taste this yummy!). This recipe can be found on any Chex cereal box..but Summer prefers her puppy chow using this extremely straightforward recipe. It is a no fail recipe that she has used for years. Use Rice Chex and Corn Chex cereals to obtain the right texture. Summer also will use the Wheat Chex but it is definitely a denser bite and not preferred by everyone.
Summer’s ‘Puppy Chow’
(aka Chex Muddy Buddies)
1 box Rice or Corn Chex cereal
12 oz bag of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter
1 stick of butter
3 cups powdered sugar
Pour the semi sweet chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Add 1 cup peanut butter and 1 stick of butter. Melt in the microwave using 30 second intervals, stirring after each 30 seconds, until melted and smooth when stirred. Open the box of cereal and dump the entire box into a very large bowl. Pour the melted chocolate over the cereal in the bowl and gently stir to cover all the cereal with the chocolate/pb/butter mixture. Once the cereal is good and chocolate-y, allow it to sit and completely cool. This is extremely important. You do not want to add the powdered sugar until the chocolate is completely cool. Next you are going to toss the chocolate coated cereal in the powdered sugar. My favorite way to toss in powdered sugar is to use a large brown paper sack (like one from Braums). I measure and dump into the sack 2 cups of powdered sugar, then dump in the completely cooled chocolate coated Chex. Add the final cup of powdered sugar on top. Roll down the paper sack and then shake, shake, shake to cover all the chocolate coated Chex.
Store in an airtight container and enjoy this treat!
Autumn’s submission is our cousin Carissa’s Christmas Crack. It is very similar to the Christmas ‘candy’ that our Granny made every Christmas season while we were growing up..but it has some changes that Autumn really likes.
Autumn liked and took for granted the simplicity of our old family traditions and loved how solid they were before we all got older and lives got more complicated. She loved being able to count on Christmas Eve at Granny’s then Christmas morning at home.
If she remembers correctly, we’d maybe go to Granny’s house before the candlelight service to unload our gifts and maybe even do Santa visits at that time then go to the candlelight service and get back to Granny’s house starving just in time to smell the burned Mac and cheese, lol. But, she most looked forward to Granny’s tray of sweet snacks. Specifically, the captain crunch cookies and the Christmas Crack. Salty and sweet, with a great crunch; this was the snack to take care of any craving!
CCandMike’s Christmas Crack
6 cups Golden Grahams cereal
1 pkg Caramel Bugles (regular Bugles Chips are still so good here! More salty than sweet) 1 cup salted peanuts
1 cup pretzels
3 cups white chocolate chips, melted
1 10oz bag Christmas M&Ms
Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave using the 30 second interval method discussed above.
Pour all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and cover with the melted chocolate. Stir until combined and then pour out onto waxed paper until cooled and hardened. Break into small pieces and serve!
You can find more from Carissa on Instagram and TikTok @ccandmikecreative . You can also follow along for more from us @okseasonedsisters on Instagram, Facebook, & TikTok.