Tasty Puppy Chow
Ingredients
- 1 (12 oz) box rice Chex cereal
- 1 (12 oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar (divided)
Directions
- Pour the Chex cereal into a large bowl. Set aside. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Next, place chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl.
- Microwave the chocolate and peanut butter mixture for 60 seconds and then stir until smooth. If the mixture hasn't melted enough, continue to microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until the mixture is completely smooth and melted. Add the vanilla extract.
- Pour the chocolate and peanut butter mixture over the Chex cereal. Using a silicone spatula stir gently, until the Chex cereal is evenly coated in the chocolate and peanut butter mixture.
- Layer powdered sugar and cereal into the gallon-sized bag for even coating. Pour one cup powdered sugar into the gallon-sized bag. Next add half of the Chex cereal, followed by another cup of powdered sugar, then the remaining cereal. Layer the cereal with the remaining cup of powdered sugar. Secure the bag.
- Shake the bag vigorously until all the cereal is evenly coated with powdered sugar.
- Lastly, empty the bag of puppy chow onto the prepared baking sheet to cool, for about 5-10 minutes. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Supplies
- large bowl
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
- medium bowl
- silicone spatula
- plastic gallon-sized bag
Recipe Notes
Puppy chow can be stored in an airtight container or in Ziploc bags for up to one week.
If you haven't had puppy chow, you haven't lived! Just to be clear our puppy chow is for human consumption only, and it's hard to resist. Keep this snack up high away from your four-legged friends, but feel free to dish it out during a party to your guests. It will surely be a crowd pleaser if you find it in your heart to share. This delightful, crunchy, sweet treat is made from Chex cereal, peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar.
Puppy chow, also called Muddy Buddies, is outrageously addicting and incredibly simple to prepare. It's more than likely that you have made your own version of this classic treat before. You'll find that there are several recipes for puppy chow, all having different ratios of cereal to chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar, which result in different textures, or a chocolatey or heavier peanut butter taste. Puppy chow is also extremely versatile; this addicting treat can be changed to suit your tastes or dressed up for any occasion.
Giving Puppy Chow An Exciting Twist
Puppy chow is commonly prepared with Chex cereal, semi-sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. However, you can customize your chow to have a unique flavor.
- Use different chocolate chips, such as white chocolate or milk chocolate.
- Mix powdered sugar with pudding mix or cake mix to achieve different flavors such as strawberry cake, confetti cake, chocolate cake, vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding, or butterscotch pudding.
- Make puppy chow festive by tossing in a bag of M&Ms that match the current holiday.
- Add other ingredients such as peanut butter cups, pretzels, Reese's Pieces, Hershey's Kisses varieties, marshmallows, sprinkles, nuts, Lucky Charms marshmallows, raisins, food color, candy corn, or cookies.
Allergy And Dietary Restrictions
Many ingredients in puppy chow may not be suitable for all diets. However, there are substitutions available for those looking to prepare this addicting snack.
Dairy-Free
Swap out the semi-sweet chocolate chips for dairy-free chocolate chips from brands like Enjoy Life Foods. Substitute dairy free butter or coconut oil for regular butter.
Gluten-Free
Making this tasty treat gluten-free is super easy, as Chex cereal by General Mills sells eight different varieties and seven of those are gluten-free.
Puppy chow is a deliciously simple snack and easily customizable; the options are endless. Whip up this sweet treat, and don't forget to share!
Clean-Up
The aftermath of this dessert can leave your kitchen looking like a winter wonderland. In order to keep the powdered sugar dust to a minimum, we recommend you separate and serve the chow in plastic baggies - and supervise your kiddos as they enjoy.