Christmas Muddy Buddies

Christmas Muddy Buddies also called Christmas Chex Mix is an incredibly easy and delicious snack that will compliment your box of Christmas treats for the neighbors as well as compliment your mulled wine or hot chocolate during the Christmas season. Sweet Chex mix, like this Christmas-themed recipe, with melted peanut butter and chocolate is often called puppy chow, muddy buddies, or reindeer chow.

I love to serve this recipe when we’re putting up Christmas decorations, wrapping presents or any time we have friends over during the holiday season. It’s so quick and easy, though, you don’t really need an excuse to whip up a batch of the sweet and crunchy Christmas snack!

At Ajpal, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

How to Make Holiday Puppy Chow

My Christmas Puppy Chow is a sweet, crunchy snack made with cereal coated in melted chocolate and peanut butter, then tossed in powdered sugar for an irresistible finish.

Homemade Christmas Chex Mix Ingredients

Assemble the following ingredients:

• Chex Cereal – Chex Cereal dates back to the 1950s and is a rice or wheat cereal named after the checkerboard squares in the original producer Ralston-Purina’s logo. I used Rice Chex for a lovely crunchy and mild flavor, but you could use corn or wheat flavor. Make a couple of batches of this recipe and try them all out!
• Pretzels – Select pretzels that are a similar size to your Chex mix. I used small, twist pretzels for this. When the ingredients are a similar size, they will stay mixed better and provide a more balanced flavor in each handful.
• Butter – Butter is what brings all the dry ingredients together, and adds the delicious, nutty flavor to the Chex mix flavoring sauce.
• Peanut Butter – Peanut butter acts as a binder for this flavor mix, so it’s important to use creamy peanut butter, as crunchy peanut butter will have a different texture.
• White Chocolate Chips – White chocolate chips hold the whole recipe together, quite literally. Because white chocolate is solid at room temperature (77oF), it creates the outer flavoring shell for this mix, without melting in your hand when you eat it. White chocolate was first developed by the Nestle company in 1935.
• Powdered Sugar – sometimes called confectioners’ sugar, or icing sugar, powder sugar is granulated sugar milled into a powdered state. Commercially available powdered sugar usually contains around 5-10%, anti-caking agents. You can make your own powdered sugar by milling caster sugar in a clean coffee grinder or by hand with a mortar and pestle.
• Red and Green M&M’s – These classic Christmas-colored candies and a perfect crunch texture, and an additionally colorful element to this Christmas Chex mix. I used the regular-sized chocolate candies for this, but you could also use the festive mini-sized M&Ms.
• Candy Canes – The tradition of twisted peppermint stick candy dates back to the 1840s, and has been ubiquitous with Christmas ever since. The laborious process of twisting and bending the canes was done by hand until 1957, when Fr. Gregory Harding Keller, a Roman Catholic priest, invented and patented the Keller machine for his family’s candy business.

Steps to Make Easy Muddy Buddies

Once you have gathered your ingredients, use the following method.

Prepare your Dry ingredients

In a zip-top bag, crush the candy canes into pieces, but not into powder, and set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine the Chex mix and pretzels.

Prepare Your Sauce

In a heavy bottom saucepan, or double boiler, melt your butter and add the peanut butter and one cup of white chocolate chips. Whisk together as they melt, being sure not to let the mixture burn if you are not using a double boiler.

Mix Together

Pour the melted white chocolate mixture over the Chex and pretzels, and stir to mix well. Then add the powdered sugar, and stir to mix. Add the crushed candy canes, M&Ms, and the remaining white chocolate chips and mix well. Serve in a bowl for all to enjoy!

Tips and Tricks to Perfect Christmas Muddy Buddies

Christmas Chex mix is SUPER easy to make, but these tips will make it, even more, hassle-free.

For less mess, mix in a zip-top bag. For less of a mess, and to make mixing easier, you can combine the Chex and pretzels with the melted chocolate mixture and eventually the remaining ingredients in a zip-top bag. The bag also doubles as a storage container for the Christmas Chex mix, so this is a win-win.

Use a double boiler method to avoid burning. It can be easy to burn chocolate when you’re melting it. To avoid that, use a double boiler method to melt the ingredients. Take a saucepan, and fill it half way with water. Place a metal or glass bowl over the pan so it fits neatly as a lid. The steam from the saucepan will provide gentle heat to melt the butter, peanut butter, and white chocolate which will prevent burning.

Reindeer Chow FAQ

Yes! Chex makes a variety of products that are gluten-free including this Rice Chex. Substitute regular pretzels for your favorite gluten-free variety (like these). Most commercially available peanut butter and powdered sugar is gluten-free, but you’ll want to check the labels if you’re gluten sensitive.

You can keep this Christmas Chex mix in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.

This usually happens when you use the lesser amount of powdered sugar, the simple fix is to add in more powdered sugar.

For the chocolate chips you melt with the butter and peanut butter, replacing white with regular chocolate chips is fine. However, replacing the white chocolate chips with regular chocolate chips for the ones that get stirred into the mixture, might make the Chex mix look off because of the color.

Yes, you can! Just put them in the microwave for 20-30 second increments, stirring well after each time. This way may take more time and effort than melting it on the stove because of the amount of ingredients that needs melting; which is why using a saucepan on the stove was recommended in the directions.

The type of Chex cereal you choose is up to you, just make sure it’s a neutral one and not an already flavored one like cinnamon.

If you have a large 4 quart bowl, then it is easiest to make in the bowl and to make sure all ingredients are stirred in well. If you do not have a large enough bowl, then a gallon sized bag works fine, just make sure you shake it well enough every time the directions say to stir or shake.

What to Enjoy with Your Christmas Chex Mix

This Christmas Chex Mix will complete any Christmas cookie plate or provide that sweet crunch for an afternoon snack.

I enjoy this Christmas Chex Mix with a nice mug of mulled wine or mulled beer, eggnog, spiked eggnog mocha, or hot chocolate.

A few of my favorite Christmas cookies include gingerbread trufflesand candy cookie dough fudge.

Check out other favorite Christmas recipes!

Freezer Vegetable Soup

This easy freezer vegetable soup turns a bag of frozen vegetables, cannellini beans, garlic, Italian herbs, and pearl couscous or rice into a cozy, budget-friendly dinner in about 30 minutes. It’s hearty, naturally vegan, and made almost entirely from pantry and freezer staples.

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