Funfetti muddy buddies

Birthday treats are continuing with these funfetti muddy buddies.  Interestingly, this is the 3rd installment of my birthday treats, and it's also the third sprinkle-laden treat of my birthday treats (and the 4th birthday treat, if you include B's birthday galaxy vanilla fudge!).  I guess #sprinkles(reallydo)makeeverythingbetter -- even more so when they're fancy sprinkle blends!

Just be warned: These muddy buddies are HIGHLY addictive.  Like insanely can't-get-my-hand-out-of-the-bag, walk-back-into-the-kitchen-even-though-I-walked-out-because-I-needed-to-stop-eating-them addictive.

Go ahead and make them.  Just don't say I didn't warn you....

Funfetti Muddy Buddies
A JulieBakes original!

Ingredients:

6 cups chex (I used all rice chex, but any plain chex flavor, or a combination, would work)
12 oz vanilla candiquik
4 Tbsp sprinkles/sprinkle medley
3 Tbsp nonpareils, divided
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Place cereal in a large bowl.

Melt CandiQuik in it's tray (or a microwave safe bowl) and microwave in 30 second increments.
Stir.
Continue microwaving and stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted.

Pour melted CandiQuik over cereal.
Stir carefully to coat it.

Immediately 4 tablespoons of sprinkles and 2 tablespoons of nonpareils.
Toss/Stir to coat.
Next, toss on the powdered sugar and mix until coated.
Toss last tablespoon of nonpareils.

I placed mine on a wax paper lined baking sheet so that the CandiQuik could dry.

If you feel that yours need a little more powdered sugar, add 1 tablespoon at a time until all of the muddy buddies are coated in powdered sugar.

Churro Chex mix

Every winter, my friends on Long Island throw a huge party.  Each year, as of late, it has had a theme.  Two years ago?  It was a summer themed party (remember these Piña Colada cupcakes I made for it?), last year was Oktoberfest themed (my desserts did not match the theme at all), and this year it's Cinco de Mayo themed.  Since Cinco de Mayo themed desserts can be pretty awesome (tres leches...churro....Mexican chocolate...margarita....Yes, to all of them!), I figured it would be easy to arrive to the party with an arsenal of delicious Cinco de Mayo treats!

First up?  Churro Chex mix.  I guess technically they're muddy buddies, but I just like the sound of churro Chex Mix better.  This recipe actually came about by a serious of errors.  The recipe called for cinnamon chips.  I even had them!  See, I can't find them at my local grocery store, but they sell them at -- of all places -- the Hershey's Store in Times Square.  So if I ever find myself in that touristy area of the city, and if the line isn't too long, I pick up a bag or two.  Unless it's swamped with tourists and has a long line, in which case, I skip it.  Which is precisely what happened when I was there the past two times.  But I digress.  I had 2 bags in my cabinet, and even though it was past the "best by" date, I figured I try them.  Simply put?  They did not work.  But as they were not melting, I noticed that they were probably cinnamon flavored white chocolate chips.  So I set up with batch number two, this time using white chocolate chips and a heaping half tablespoon of cinnamon.  This time, though, the butter and white chocolate wouldn't fully combine, so instead of tossing batch number two, I poured off as much of the butter as I could.  Problem solved!  (If you don't feel like going though the task of melting -- and then disposing of -- a stick of butter, you can skip that step and look for the cheat in the recipe below).  The result is a cinnamon-y delicious addictive Chex mix!

Churro Chex Mix (aka Triple Cinnamon Chex Mix)
adapted from this recipe from Oh, Sweet Basil

Ingredients:

1 regular sized box of cinnamon chex (about 8 cups)
2 cups of white chocolate chips
1 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon, divided
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powered sugar
1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

Place the cereal in a large bowl.
Cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a saucepan over medium heat, add the butter and begin to melt it down halfway.
Add the chocolate chips.
Stir until combined.
Add a heaping 1/2 Tbsp of cinnamon.
Drain any butter that is not incorporated.

*Alternately, you can melt 2 Tbsp butter with the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring inbetween, until fully incorporated.  If you do this, I would add 1 tsp of ground cinnamon instead of the heaping 1/2 Tbsp. *

Meanwhile, gently stir together the powdered sugar, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl.
Set aside.

Once the chips are all melted (and the butter drained), pour over the cereal.
Fold with a rubber spatula to coat.
Then add half of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Continue folding to coat.
Spread out on the cookie sheet and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar mixture.
Toss to coat.

All to cool on the baking tray before packaging up (if there's any left....have I mentioned how addictive this it?!).

S'mores muddy buddy snack mix

With today's high of 90 degrees in New York City, the idea of turning on my oven in my small kitchen was just not that appealing.  It was too hot.  Like, it-took-forever-to-cool-off-after-I-walked-in,-and-I-didn't-want-to-upset-the-temperature-balance-inside hot in NYC. So I went no-bake.

The secret is, I had bought all of the ingredients for this treat a few days ago. I was just waiting for the right time to make it, and today was that time!

I know I've told you before, but I was late to the muddy buddy craze. Like really late. My first foray into muddy buddies was the (insanely delicious) red velvet cookies and cream muddy buddies I made a few months ago. Being that yesterday marked the first day of summer, I figured a summery themed muddy buddy flavor would be great. And then I thought...muddy buddy snack mix!!  Sometimes I even surprise myself!

And thus, my S'mores muddy buddy snack mix was born!

The secret to these is the seasonal S'mores Oreo.  These muddy buddies started with milk chocolate and crushed S'mores Oreos. You could stop there. Honestly, no one would blame you. But then I went ahead and added milk chocolate chips, teensy marshmallows, broken up graham crackers, and a few cut up Hershey's bars to the already delicious S'mores muddy buddies, and voila, you have an addictively good summer treat!  And all without even turning on your oven!

** so here's the thing....I made the muddy buddies, and we devoured them.  I made sure to save some to make this snack mix.  So even though you get many cups of muddy buddies with this recipe, I made the snack mix using 4 cups of the muddy buddies.  If you can hold out and not continuously munch on them, you can double the snack mix recipe.  But if you're like me, make sure you save 4 cups of muddy buddies before you go to town on them ;-) **

S'mores Muddy Buddies
Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:

6 cups Chex cereal (I used corn)
12 oz milk chocolate almond bark (I used CandiQuik)
20 S'mores Oreos
1/2 cup powdered sugar (I ended up using a little more)

Directions:

Put Chex in a large bowl.

Process the Oreos in a food processor until fine.
Set aside.

Melt CandiQuik (or almond bark) in it's tray (or a microwave safe bowl) and microwave in 30 second intervals.
Stir.
Continue microwaving and stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted.

Pour melted chocolate over cereal.
Stir carefully to coat it.

Immediately add the ground Oreos.
Toss/stir to coat.
Next, toss on the powdered sugar.
Mix until coated.

I placed mine on a wax paper lined baking sheet so that the CandiQuick could dry.  
I felt mine needed a little more powdered sugar, so I added 1 Tbsp at a time until all of the muddy buddies were coated in powdered sugar.

Allow to dry completely before making snack mix.  

**Try not to eat all of the muddy buddies during this waiting period!!**

S'mores Muddy Buddy Snack Mix

Ingredients:

4 cups s'mores muddy buddies (see recipe above)
1/2 cup jet puffed mallow bits
2 graham crackers, cut/broken into small pieces
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips (I used the large baking ones from Ghirardelli)
1 Hershey's bar, cut into small rectangles

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a bowl or large ziplock bag.
Mix.

If not eating in all one sitting, or if gifting, a mason jar makes a cute gift!

Red velvet cookies and cream muddy buddies

I was late to the muddy buddy party.  By decades.  Then the other day, while assembling goodies for my sister as part of a post-surgery recuperation package, I stumbled across cookies and cream muddy buddies. And I bought them. And proceeded to eat nearly a third of the bag on my subway ride home (and then toss the remainder of the bag in the nearest garbage can. Self control is clearly not my strong point.). Needless to say, I was hooked.

Lately the shelves have been stocked with fun and interesting flavored Oreos (case in point: cinnamon bun, red velvet, "filled cupcake"), and in my post-Valentine's day brain, I started thinking up muddy buddy flavors of my own.  Like red velvet cookies and cream!  Conveniently, I had purchased packages of all three new (techniically red velvet was available last year, seasonally) flavors, but had only cracked open the cinnamon bun ones to try (they're delicious, and I'm already working on a recipe for those!).  I had originally planned to dip the red velvet ones in white chocolate for Valentine's Day, but lost track of time, and so they were just sitting around.

These buddy buddies are delicious!  I loved the red velvet flavor mixed with the cream cheese flavor (from the filling) and the hint of vanilla from the coating.  Absolute perfection!  At least I won't have to worry too much about self control, since I will be shipping (most) of these off to work with B tomorrow!

Red Velvet Cookies & Cream Muddy Buddies
Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:

6 cups chex cereal (I used corn)
12 oz white almond bark (I used white vanilla CandiQuik)
20 Red Velvet Oreos
1/2 cup powdered sugar (I ended up needing a little more)

Directions:

Put cereal in a large bowl.

Process the Oreos in a food processor until fine (my preferred method) or place in a sealed ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin.

Melt CandiQuik (or almond bark) in it's tray (or a microwave safe bowl) and microwave in 30 second increments.
Stir.
Continue microwaving and stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted.

Pour melted CandiQuik/almond bark over cereal.
Stir carefully to coat it.

Immediately add the ground Oreos.
Toss/Stir to coat.
Next, toss on the powdered sugar and mix until coated.

I placed mine on a wax paper lined baking sheet so that the CandiQuik could dry.
I felt mine needed a little more powdered sugar, to I added 1 Tbsp at a time until all of the muddy buddies were coated in powdered sugar.

Cereal bars with peanuts and pretzels

I saw this recipe and was intrigued.  The original recipe was called Good Morning Sunshine Bars.  It was a no bake bar made with cereal, hence the name "good morning sunshine" bars.  But then I started reading the recipe and saw all the corn syrup and brown sugar in them, and then they were topped with chocolate, and I thought to myself that these probably aren't the healthiest breakfast to eat.  So what if the main ingredient was Chex cereal?

But just because I thought that they probably wouldn't be the best breakfast option, didn't mean that they didn't sound good to me!  So I played around with them a little bit.  I assumed the syrup would be sweet, so I decided I'd add an additional salty element, and I decreased the peanuts to a half cup (I didn't chop them -- I was lazy), but I did add a cup of crushed pretzels to the mix to up the saltiness and make them salty-sweet (I also decreased the salt to about a teaspoon).  I even debated leaving off the chocolate.....but who was I kidding?  Everything is better with a little chocolate!

Cereal Bars with Peanuts and Pretzels
Adapted from these Good Morning Sunshine Bars from Bake or Break, originally from Baked Elements

Ingredients:

6 cups of Rice Chex (I used 3 cups of Rice Chex and 3 cups of Corn Chex)
1/2 cups salted peanuts
1 cup of pretzels, broken
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt (if you like things a little more salty, you can easily go up to 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt)
6 ounces milk chocolate

Directions:

Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan (I used Pam).
Line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the two short sides.
Butter the parchment (I used Pam, again).

Place Chex, peanuts, and pretzels in a large bowl.
Mix together until combined.

Place brown sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan.
Stir together and cook over medium heat.
Bring to boil for one minute.
Remove from heat.
Stir in peanut butter, vanilla, and salt.

Pour sugar mixture over cereal mixture.
Stir gently until cereal is coated with sugar mixture.

Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Allow to cool to room temperature (or place in fridge for 15-20 minutes).

Once bars have cooled, melt chocolate (the microwave or a double boiler will work).
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the bars.
Allow chocolate to set.

Using the parchment overhangs, remove the bars from the pan.
Cut into bars, 3 x 1.5 inches.

Sriracha Chex mix

I promised myself yesterday that I wouldn't bake anything between Christmas and New Years, with the exception of my New Year's Eve dessert.  See, I had a TON of leftovers all over the apartment, and even after tossing some, I had a lot remaining.  Plus, in 16 days I'll be off to Miami for a long weekend, and I have to be in a <<gasp!!>> bathing suit.  So clearly, the fewer desserts and treats I had around the apartment, the better it would be.

Then last night I saw a recipe for Sriracha Chex Mix.  I figured that it would be a great snack or appetizer for New Year's Eve.  I also mused it would be a great edible gift for people who like spicy, but that's kinda a moot point since the holidays are over and I don't really have any edible gifts I need to give (except maybe at a "friendsmas" get together this weekend).  But you know me -- and how I hate to bring foods places when I haven't tested them out before -- and I needed to demo the recipe first.  A quick trip to Target (and then grocery store for fresh ginger and garlic) later, and I was ready to check out the recipe.

And yes, I know that Chex Mix is technically not baking, but since I used the oven to make it, I decided to include it on the blog.  Because, frankly, if I have a great recipe, why not share it with you?  And, it gets baked in the oven ;-)

Sriracha Chex Mix

Ingredients:

3 cups corn Chex*
3 cups rice Chex*
1 cup pretzels
1 cup wasabi peas (I got hot, since that's what they had)
1 cup peanuts
1 cup crunchy chow mein noodles
1/4 butter (I used salted)
1/4 cup Sriracha
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon grated garlic

* I thought about using wheat chex, too, but decided I'd try the recipe out as is the first time.  I think 6 cups of Chex in any permutation of wheat, corn, and rice Chex would work.

Directions:

Mix all the solid ingredients together.
                      

Mix all the liquid ingredients together. 

Grate the ginger and garlic in. 

Microwave to melt butter and warm the mixture.

Pour the sauce over the cereal mixture and toss to evenly coat.                           

Bake at 250 for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so until crunchy and flavorful.