If you know anything about me, you'll know that I don't really like to bake on a regular basis. The thought of mixing flour and sugar and leavening ingredients in a bowl makes me break out in hives. On the other hand, I love eating sweets. I'd be happy to eat them all day long, as long as someone else made them. (Sorry friends!)
So to get my sweet fix, I often turn to no-bake solutions. Muddy buddies (or puppy chow, if you like) is one of the most frequent seen in our house besides homemade candy bars, because it's so easy to make and we always have the ingredients on hand.
If you've never made them before, or would like to have a quick and easy sweet snack for yourself or an upcoming holiday party, try this out!
Ingredients
These can vary based on what you have in your pantry, what you like, and how coated you like your muddy buddies to be.
I like mine to be a little thinly coated because I don't like peanut butter that much (as shown in these photos), so increase the amount of liquid ingredients a bit if you want them thickly coated. Similarly, increase or decrease the amount of chex-type-cereal depending on how many add-ins you add in :)
- 7 cups chex-type-cereal
- 1-2 cups add-ins (anything you like! we use pretzels, candy, nuts, seeds, other kinds of cereal, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, and whatever else we can find)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (check the bag's ingredients to determine if they contain milk, but most don't)
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (you could instead use almond butter or cookie butter for something a little different!)
- 1/4 cup vegan butter/margarine
- 1-1 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar (see here for more info on vegan powdered sugar)
Instructions
- Combine the cereal and add-ins in a big paper bag or extra-large bowl. (The paper bag is infinitely easier here than the bowl, FYI.)
- Melt together until consistent the semi-sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter, and margarine in either a double-boiler, makeshift double boiler, or microwave.
- Pour the chocolate mixture over the cereal & add-ins, and mix to coat. If you're using the bag, just fold over the top and shake. If you use the bowl, stir with a spoon.
- Once coated, immediately pour in the powdered sugar and mix again to coat everything.
- Pour and serve! This makes enough for a party. :)
