Chex Mix Sweet and Savoury

Well, now that the dust has settled after an excellent Christmas, I may have time to squeeze in a couple more posts before we see the end of 2015.

I wanted to try a different type of snack mix this year. I love the traditional with Shreddies and Cheerios but now that we have Chex cereal here, I thought it was time to branch out a bit.

This mix is a bit sweet and a bit savoury. I followed the recipe exactly but I would recommend not adding the nuts until the last 15 minutes or so, maybe 30 min. The hour of baking was too long. The original recipe called for Mixed nuts (who can afford those these days?) so I substituted peanuts and then tried a second batch with almonds. Both were salted.

It is an additive mix. Be warned.

Sweet and Savoury Chex Mix
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp seasoned salt
3 cups Rice Chex cereal
3 cups Honey Corn Chex cereal
3 cups Bugles
1 1/2 cups pretzels
1 cup roasted, salted mixed nuts

Preheat oven to 275 F.
Put butter, sugar, syrup, soy sauce in medium saucepan over med-low heat until sugar dissolves.
Add seasoned salt.
Put dry ingredients in large roast pan. Slowly drizzle sauce over top while stirring.
Bake one hour, stirring every 15 min. Add nuts towards the end of the baking time. Store in airtight container.

Packaging Treats

Presentation is everything! That's what our mothers always told us so when I give away my candy and other Christmas goodies, I always like to put them in a cute package. The problem is when you do many for craft sales etc, it's difficult to come up with quick and cost effective solutions. Thank goodness for the Dollar store.
Here's some ideas that I used this past season....

I'm a sucker for anything with a clear display window. Aren't these adorable?

These held a dozen Snickerdoodles quite nicely.

These were perfect for fudge and nuts and bolts or you could use portion cups with snap-on lids for a less costly alternative.

Another quick and easy way to dress up some candy is with a doily folded over the plastic ziploc bag. I would have decorated this up a bit more but I made quite a few for my little Christmas sale so time was a factor.

I love it when my house looks like Santa's workshop but unfortunately I don't have any elves to help with the clean-up. Time to get organized and set up for the wrapping station. Hope you liked my ideas.

Microwave Peanut Brittle

This recipe is pretty fail-proof. Once you figure out what container to use and have your ingredients ready to go, it's a breeze. Just remember you need to work quickly at the end and wear BIG oven mitts.

Microwave Peanut Brittle

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup salted peanuts
1 tsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda

Line a cookie sheet with foil and butter it.
Combine sugar and corn syrup in a 2 quart glass bowl and microwave on high
for 4 min.
Stir in peanuts and microwave another 3 1/2 minutes
Stir in butter and vanilla and microwave another 1 1/2 minutes.
Stir in baking soda and immediately pour onto cookie sheet.
Cool and break into pieces.

Note: My microwave is not very hot so you may have to play with the times but this is the original recipe so it must work quite well with the varying microwave wattages.