Christmas Snacks - Muddy Buddy Mix

I like this one from last year, so I'm reposting for more holiday yumminess.

If you're looking for a sweet little snack as an alternative to cookies, this one is easy, quick and (seriously) not as messy as making cookies.  This looks just like snow in a bowl.  It's also a change in pace for Santa on Christmas Eve.  (Let's face it - he's tired of cookies at every house!)  This snack is actually good any time of year, so jot down the recipe for later if you're one of those cookie purists.

The dry ingredients are somewhat approximate, just make a big bowl of crunchy stuff and then mix it with the other ingredients.  You need:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

4-5 c. Chex (any flavor(s) you like)

2 c. Mini pretzels

1 c. Powdered sugar

Place first three ingedients and heat in microwave for 1 minute. Mix well and heat more if needed to melt everything. Add vanilla extract and mix well.  Mix dry ingredients (you can also add nuts, M&Ms or anything else).  Pour chocolate mixture over dry ingredients and mix well.  Wait a few minutes for the hot chocolate mixture to cool down a bit  Transfer the mixture into plastic ziplock bags with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in each, close and shake to coat.  Coat all of mix (adding more powdered sugar as needed).  If you end up with too much powdered sugar or if it is clumping too much to the chocolate covered ingredients, you can use a colander or sifter to reduce the powdered sugar.  Serve or chill to store.

 (I just noticed my pictures look like it's a container full of powdered sugar, but it's my flash adding to much light.  It is coated, but not drowning in powdered sugar!)

Dive in!!

cindy