A delicious Puppy Chow recipe, sans the butter, that is the perfect sweet treat for your snacking crew.
Puppy Chow is as satisfying a treat as pretzel s’more bites, Butterfinger cookies or apple butterscotch cake, so you might as well try them all.
Puppy Chow Recipe {Muddy Buddies}
Who else grew up on Puppy Chow? Always a holiday favorite and one of the best snacks anytime of year. Puppy Chow truly one of the greatest party foods of all time.
This is the perfect dessert for movie night, but be warned, it’s highly addictive! One bite and twenty more nibbles will follow.
Puppy Chow will curb every one of your sweet cravings so make a batch today!
Ingredients for Puppy Chow Recipe {Muddy Buddies}
You will need the following ingredients to make puppy chow otherwise known as muddy buddies:
Pantry Ingredients
- Rice Chex cereal – you could substitute with Corn Chex cereal, but I thing the Rice Chex has a better flavor. Crispix cereal also works, but it will look less like puppy chow. Generic brand rice cereal also works.
- dark chocolate chips – using dark chocolate helps offset the sweetness, but semi-sweet chips are fine if that’s what you have.
- peanut butter baking chips – these are super easy to melt
- vanilla extract – use pure
- table salt – or any other finely ground salt
- confectioners’ sugar – also known as powdered sugar
How to Make Puppy Chow Recipe {Muddy Buddies}
Step one: Pour cereal into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
Step two: In a medium microwave safe bowl, add the chocolate and peanut butter chips. Heat in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring well after each, until melted and smooth.
Step three: Stir in vanilla extract and salt.
Step four: Pour the chocolate peanut before mixture over the cereal and stir well to combine.
Step five: Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes.
Step six: Divide the cereal into 2 (gallon-sized) sealable plastic bags or paper grocery bags. Add 1 cup confectioners’ sugar to each bag, seal, and shake to coat.
Step seven: Store in an air-tight container at room temperature, in the fridge, or freezer.
Recipe Tips
You don’t have to do this, but chilling the puppy chow before adding the confectioners’ sugar helps prevent the sugar from being completely absorbed by the warm puppy chow and disappearing into the cereal.
If you’ve ever sprinkled confectioners’ sugar over a warm cake, you’ve seen it “disappear”. Same result will happen here.
Is This Puppy Chow For Dogs?
No!
This recipe is NOT for dogs. It is commonly known as puppy chow, muddy buddies, monkey munch, muddy munch, reindeer chow, or people chow. Please note that chocolate is
poisonous to dogs so please do NOT feed this to your furry friend! It is called puppy chow because the little squares resemble puppy food!
What Variations Can I Make?
This recipe is so versatile and can be made many different ways.
Try switching up the flavors by using another kind of Chex cereal like cinnamon or chocolate. Use butterscotch, white chocolate, or all
dark chocolate chips. Use any variety of mix-ins such as mini M&M’s, sprinkles, peppermint extract, crushed cookie pieces (like Oreos), or graham cracker crumbs.
Can I Use Peanut Butter Instead of Peanut Butter Baking Chips?
Yes you can, however if you use natural peanut butter reduce the amount to 3/4 cup.
You will need to microwave regular peanut butter to make it a more runny consistency before stirring it in.
Can I Substitute Almond Butter For The Peanut Butter Chips?
That will work. However, since almond butter has more oil and tends to be quite runnier, reduce the amount to 3/4 cup almond butter.
You could also substitute any kind of nut
butter or sunflower butter.
Can I Make This Ahead Of Time And Freeze It?
Yes! This recipe works really well in the freezer and can be frozen for up to 3-4 months. It can be set out to come to room temperature or be eaten straight from the freezer!
I’m In a Hurry. Do I Need to Let It Sit Before Adding the Confectioners’ Sugar?
You can skip this step if you’re really in a time crunch. However, letting the cereal mixture sit allows the chocolate peanut butter mixture to cool so the sugar sticks to it rather than dissolve into the
warm chocolate. If you don’t let your mixture cool you will need to use more powdered sugar to get that nice white coating.
Can I Melt the Peanut Butter and Chocolate On the Stovetop?
Yes. It’s just as quick and easy to use the stovetop. Put your chips into a double boiler or glass bowl set over a pot of simmering water and heat, stirring often, until melted and smooth. Continue with
the recipe as written.
Storage Instructions
Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. You can also store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or in the freezer in a freezer-safe container for 3-4 months.
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Puppy Chow Recipe {Muddy Buddies}
Ingredients
- 1 (12 oz) box Rice Chex cereal
- 1-1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
- 1-1/2 cups peanut butter baking chips
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp table salt
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- Pour cereal into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium microwave safe bowl, add the chocolate and peanut butter chips. Heat in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring well after each, until melted and smooth.
- Stir in vanilla extract and salt
- Pour the chocolate peanut before mixture over the cereal and stir well to combine.
- Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes.
- Divide the cereal into 2 (gallon-sized) sealable plastic bags or paper grocery bags. Add 1 cup confectioners' sugar to each bag, seal, and shake to coat.
- Store in an air-tight container at room temperature, in the fridge, or freezer.
