Christmas Muddy Buddies – Chex cereal tossed in peanut butter, red and green candy melts, and powdered sugar. This stuff is SO good! I am totally addicted to it!! This recipe makes a TON! Makes a great homemade gift for the holidays!
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Pin This RecipeEasy Christmas Dessert
Now that Thanksgiving is over, I am going full steam ahead with my Christmas baking! Listening to Christmas and baking is one of my favorite things about the holidays!! I also love dancing around the house with Jack while listening to Christmas music, but I think I enjoy it more than he does! LOL!
My go-to treat this year is Christmas Muddy Buddies. This dessert goes by many different names – Muddy Buddies, Puppy Chow, Muddy Munch, Reindeer Chow – whatever you call it, just make sure to call it GOOD! I have a serious weakness for peanut butter and chocolate, and I had zero self-control around this stuff!! ZERO! I kept a bag of the mix on my desk to snack on during the day. I just couldn’t stop eating it.
How to Make Christmas Muddy Buddies
This dessert is super easy to make. Place some Chex cereal in a large bowl. In a bowl, combine candy melts, peanut butter, and vegetable oil. Microwave until smooth. Pour melted peanut butter mixture over cereal, toss to coat. Transfer coated cereal into a ziplock bag. Pour some powdered sugar into the bag and seal. Shake to coat cereal. Pour coated cereal onto parchment or wax paper and allow to set.
- To get the fun red and green colors, I used some red and green candy melts. I used Wilton candy melts. Look for them at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, or Michael’s.
- You can use any flavor of Chex cereal you prefer.
- You can substitute Crispix cereal for the Chex cereal.
Muddy Buddies Make a Great Homemade Gift
This makes a lot of Muddy Buddies. A lot! It makes a great homemade gift! I bought some super cute containers at Hobby Lobby to put the mix in for gift giving. I LOVE the cute paint cans!!! PLUS they were on sale because everything is always on sale at Hobby Lobby!
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Christmas Muddy Buddies
Ingredients:
- 8 cups Chex cereal, divided
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter, divided
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 1 cup red candy melts
- 1 cup green candy melts
- 1½ cups powdered sugar, divided
- 2 gallon-sized ziplock bags
Instructions:
- Place 4 cups of Chex cereal in a large bowl. In a microwave safe bowl, combine 1 cup Red Candy Melts, ¼ cup peanut butter and ½ Tbsp vegetable oil. Microwave on on HIGH for 30 seconds, stir and cook in 15 second intervals until smooth. Pour melted peanut butter mixture over cereal, toss to coat. Pour coated cereal into gallon ziplock bag. Pour half of the powdered sugar (¾ cup) into ziplock bag and seal. Shake to coat cereal. Pour coated cereal onto parchment or wax paper and allow to set.
- Repeat process with remaining ingredients and Green Candy Melts.
- Store in an airtight container for up to a week.
Notes:
- I used Wilton candy melts. Look for them at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, or Michael’s.
- You can use any flavor of Chex cereal you prefer.
- You can substitute Crispix cereal for the Chex cereal.
Steph
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I had this recipe bookmarked for years, but never tried it because I always hated heating up chocolate in the microwave. I FINALLY got a candy melter and this is the first thing I tried to make with it. Holy cow. I could not have been more pleased with the results, and my boyfriend thanks you! I did red and green tonight, and I’ll be doing chocolate tomorrow. I’m hoping we have enough to bring with me when I see my family for the holidays, but I think we just might eat it all before then (ha!). Your directions were perfect. Thank you for sharing!
Question: If you can’t find the red or green candy melts , can you use white melts and food coloring? Need an answer like yesterday!
No, you can’t use liquid with candy melts or almond bark. It will seize up. If you can find oil-based food coloring, that would work. I belive Wilton’s makes an oil-based food coloring to work with their candy melts.
Can you freeze this? How long will it stay good?
My son (age 28) went crazy over this recipe when someone used a peanut butter cereal and then coated with chocolate.
Brilliant idea!!! I have some peanut butter Chex in the pantry. Now I know how to use it!
I made this today and it is wonderful. When I added the powdered sugar to the red batch it didn't quite cover all the cereal so when I made the green I added just a little more powdered sugar. Perfect, just like your picture!!! Thank you for a great recipe!!
I made this today and it is wonderful!! I just found that there wasn't quite enough powdered sugar with the red mixture so when I made the green I added just a little more powdered sugar.Perfect!It is so good!! Thank you for this great recipe!
for the powdered sugar is it reg. sugar or confection sugar?
it is the white confectioners powdered sugar
Mine was clumpy too. Looking at this recipe and comparing to other muddie buddie recipes on the net, the candy mixture is twice the amount than others. I'm figuring that either we need to double the cereal & powdered sugar or half the peanutbutter candy mixture. Tasted is wonderful. I still appreciate the recipe just wish it was pretty like your picture.
I made the recipe as written and it turned out like the photo. Not sure why yours was lumpy.
Jean Anne – I made these again this morning and they turned out just like the photo. I'm not sure why your cereal was lumpy. I would just say to make sure that you stir the cereal and melted candy melts/peanut butter really well. I stirred it for about a minute – until all the cereal was coated. I also shook the cereal in the ziplock bag with the powdered sugar for about a minute.
How did you get yours to look so pretty? Mine came out all clumpy and ugly.
I just stirred the cereal and candy melts really well. I made sure the candy melts were evenly distributed before dumping the cereal in the ziplock bag.
Jennifer – I made these again this morning and they turned out just like the photo. I'm not sure why your cereal was lumpy. I would just say to make sure that you stir the cereal and melted candy melts/peanut butter really well. I stirred it for about a minute – until all the cereal was coated. I also shook the cereal in the ziplock bag with the powdered sugar for about a minute.
Which type of chex cereal?
Any flavor you prefer. I used rice chex.
Like the comment above I usually just use chocolate chips and have only been able to find vanilla flavored candy melts. What do you do for the chocolate part?
There is no chocolate in this version. Just the candy melts.
How long to set?
I make a TON of this every year for Christmas gifts but never thought of using red & green candy melts. I usually just use chocolate chips, PB, and butter. I also add pretzel pieces and peanuts to the cereal. So good! I may try it with the colors this year though. I love the idea! Thanks!