PEANUT BUTTER-CHOCOLATE LOVERS DELIGHT

Puppy Chow, Muddy Buddies, Monkey Munch or as I lovingly refer to it, The White Way of Delight, (for all you Anne of Green Gable Fans that will ring a bell) is not just a snack at Christmas.  However Christmas is of course the time of year most people think about making it.  Not our family, nope. It is often at the top of the list to pick from for our weekend snack night throughout the year.

Zeb’s birthday was this past week and that was his pick for his birthday dessert.  It was his birthday after all so who was I tell him no?  We won’t mention that at the last minute he decided he should go traditional and do a cake…so we did both.  That’s beside the point and as I said, we won’t bring that up.

This is just a great snack especially if you have a chocolate-peanut butter lover in family.  That would describe all six of us at our home.

It takes very few ingredients and is easy enough for little ones to help….PLEASE note I said help, not “do” because you do have to use the stove long enough to melt a couple ingredients and it also has the potential to be a very messy snack while preparing it. So little hand assisting is great with this recipe but not in charge of. 

Below see the few ingredients that are required.

If you have all the above you end up with this.  The cereal is coated with a wonderful layer of chocolate and peanut butter under a sweet layer of powder sugar…hence “The White Way of Delight”.

This recipe has a lot of room for different taste buds.  If you like it extra chocolate and peanut butter then the ratio I am about to give is perfect.  However if you prefer a lighter flavor chocolate and peanut butter it is very easy to alter.  I will explain the possible alterations below the pictures.  What I show here is just the base recipe.

1 cup butter. If it is unsalted be sure to had a pinch of salt; about 1/2 teaspoon. This can be added with salted butter as well.

Melted or at least partially melted.

3 packages of your favorite chocolate chips, 10 ounces each.  Your favorite kind, semi sweet, milk or dark chocolate will work fine.

As long as the butter is partially melted you can add the chocolate chips however if you can wait till the butter is completely melted it is better as the chances of the chips sticking to the non buttered bottom part of the pan possibly causing them to dry out is reduced. But even if this happens it is not a big deal but if you can avoid it easily you might as well.

Melt over a low to low medium heat.  Stir often or constantly if you are concerned your heat may be to high.

Keep stirring…..

………until it looks like this.  You do not have to heat this for any amount of time, simply warm up long enough to melt.  Often times the chocolate is even barely warm.

Add the peanut butter, 1.5 to 2 jars;16 ounces each. Make sure you pick a really good tasting peanut butter. It does make a difference. We like the peanut butter that is just peanuts and salt.  The day I made this we did not have our favorite brand.  This was the one I had on hand, had never used it before. Sadly I won’t use it again.

 

You will need a large pan to pour the cereal in. 

Two 12 oz boxes of any multi grain cereal.

Pour the chocolate-peanut butter mixture over the cereal.

Use a large spoon to stir the chocolate-peanut butter mixture into the cereal.  Because you want to avoid breaking the cereal as much as possible the larger the spoon the better. This allows you to scoop under the cereal lifting larger amounts at one time.  This helps to mix it and reduces the breakage of the cereal.

Meanwhile behind the scenes……………….

Two 16 ounce bags of powder sugar.

Pour the powder sugar over the cereal and stir the same way as you did the melted chocolate-peanut butter mixture.  If you have a large enough plastic container with a lid that seals tightly you can “toss” it in that…just make sure the lid is on tight!

Just as an FYI: You will feel like in the end you wasted a lot of powdered sugar by the time you get to the bottom of the pan. I have not found this to be avoidable.  In order to get the correct amount of coating this is the amount I have found necessary. I find it to be totally worth the sacrifice as I am just not satisfied with the end results of the coating using less. If you are very creative you might be able to find another use for the powdered sugar that does not end up sticking to the cereal.

This really is a great treat.  It is best chilled, at least in my opinion.  

There are a lot of alterations you can do with this recipe. You can add peanuts or rainbow drops, these are also known as M & M’s.  We use “Rainbow Drops” because they are organic.  You can put in pretzels if you like, be sure to either get small ones or break them up small.  If you do use any other ingredinets be sure to reduce the cereal cup for cup of whatever you are adding to the recipe or your other quantities will be off. 

If you want a lighter chocolate-peanut butter taste then simply either reduce the portions of each by either cutting them in half or add an extra box of cereal.  It is really okay to be playful in the kitchen to the the flavor and texture of the food you are working with. Most often a recipe is simply a “base”. A place to start, alter it to yours and your families taste. This may take some practice with the recipe but it is so worth the rewards you reap!

So in condensed form here are the ingredients for the above photos:

1 cup butter

1/2 salt

3-10 ounce packages of chocolate chips

1.5 to 2-16 ounce jars of peanut butter

2-12 ounce boxes of wheat square cereal: you can use a rice or corn cereal if you prefer

2-16 ounce packs of powdered sugar

Follow the instructions above and you are good to go!

Enjoy!

Lea

And the cuteness behind the scenes continues 🙂