Dog Food is Delicious!

I mean Puppy Chow is delicious. Chocolate, peanut butter, Chex cereal, and powdered sugar. What could be better? Ooooo I know! Chocolate, peanut butter, Crispix cereal, and powdered sugar.  There is a big difference, my friends.
I went and visited my little brother this past weekend at his school. I had never been to Concordia, or Moorhead for that matter, and so I decided to take a little trip. He not-so-subtly asked if I was going to bake anything before I went to visit and I had all the intention in the world to bake something magnificent. Unfortunately I did not have all the time in the world. I had a very busy week leading up to the weekend and I thought that Puppy Chow (or Chex Muddy Buddies) would be a quick, delicious way to get out of baking something time-consuming. I used the recipe right off the Rice Chex cereal box so here it is:

Ingredients:
9 cups rice chex, corn chex, chocolate chex, or combination. (I substituted Crispix cereal because it's both rice and corn. And I think it tastes better than chex).
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Measure cereal into large bowl; set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag. (I actually melted everything on the stove top. It takes a little longer than the microwave but you don't have to worry about touching a hot bowl or anything.)
3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

I made double what the recipe called for and it made a ton. I brought some for Daniel, brought some for the 3 1/2 - 4 hour ride to Moorhead for Andy and me, and I left the majority of it at home ;) Because I made so much, I actually mixed everything in a huge, ginormous tupperware bowl. It worked very well and I even coated the puppy chow with the powdered sugar in the bowl. I just made sure the lid was on tight and shook it! I was a little worried that it might break the cereal pieces but there was so much of it in the bowl that that I really didn't have a problem. I then laid it on wax paper to cool, went to dinner with some friends so there was plenty of time to cool, and came home and put it in ziploc bags. I didn't refrigerate it and I think it's just fine non-refrigerated. I was in such a rush to get this done before my dinner that I didn't even think about taking pictures. Making the puppy chow my way took about 20-25 minutes instead of the 15 minutes the Chex box says it takes. I think it's because I slowly melted everything on the stovetop instead of microwaving it all. Until next time...

Fire Away!