Turn your Chex mix into ultimate sweet snacks with S’more puppy chow recipe. It’s a sinfully delicious, addictive sweet snack made with chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallows golden graham cereal.
Muddy buddies or puppy chow call it however you want, this sweet and crunchy snack is a treat your whole family would love. Puppy chow may be a summer time picnic snack, but we love to make it during holidays. Perfect for easy entertaining during this holiday season.
This S’mores puppy chow not just tastes great but it makes a great gift too. So if you are planning on Christmas gifts for family and friends, put this S’mores puppy chow on your list.
It’s so easy to make, you won’t mind gifting this to everyone. Make puppy chow, pack in cute little packing jars, put on those cute Christmas tags. Don’t forget those pretty ribbons! Your neighbors will love this Christmas gift.
Muddy buddies are great for Christmas school party as well. Add in some Christmas sprinkles or candies to the recipe. Fill it up in cute Christmas cupcake liners, wrap them up with plastic and tie up those pretty ribbons. I can safely tell kids would be delighted with this gift.
Why Make S’more Puppy Chow For Holiday Season
Let me tell you why you should make these puppy chow chex snack for the holiday season –
- It’s got chocolate
- There’s peanut butter
- And the powdered sugar looks like snow
Isn’t holiday season all about chocolate, peanut butter, candies, marshmallows and snow? Well, yes it is. There, puppy chow chex works great for holidays! So go ahead and make these right away. It doesn’t take much time at all. And you can make it however big batch you want to make.
For those who have major sweet tooth you are about to enter sweet heaven with the sugary sweet classic puppy chow. It’s also a perfect NO-BAKE dessert, great for a party. Yes you can serve it as dessert too.
Why Do They Call it Puppy Chow
Ever wondered why do they call this sweet snack puppy chow?! I did! I’m not entirely sure why did people start calling it puppy chow, apparently it looks like dog food so it got the name puppy chow.
Some even call it chow chow puppy. Haha! Some call puppy chow as muddy buddies, Reindeer chow (especially the Christmas puppy chow ones) or even Monkey munch!
Whatever the name is, this classic puppy chow chex recipe is irresistible. Make sure to make a large batch of it, if you have big crowd you want to spread a little joy this holiday season.
With this puppy chow recipe chex you can easily spread the joy without much effort. You can in fact make tons of this sweet treat in short amount of time. Who doesn’t love easy to make, super-fast holiday gifting ideas? And edible holiday gifts always gets some extra love.
How To Make Puppy Chow
Puppy chow starts with melting dark chocolate and peanut butter in microwave until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract and put in mini marshmallows. Stir well. You can leave the marshmallows in bits if not melted completely.
Pro-Tip: DO NOT use old marshmallows.
DO NOT heat marshmallows in high heat, they will solidify and turn chocolate peanut butter sauce really THICK! Gentle heat of the sauce would be enough to melt it. If not fully melted, don’t bother to melt it completely. S’more puppy chow should have marshmallow bits and bites to it.
The cereal is coated in melted chocolate-peanut butter-marshmallow. Stir it together.
Pro-Tip: be gentle while stirring. You don’t want to break the cereal, don’t worry about clump together. Cereal should be completely coated in chocolate.
Load these chocolate coated cereal in zip lock bag with powdered sugar and shake it well. Everything should be coated well with sugar.
Wait for the puppy chow to dry. Then mix in the add-ins. Miniature Reese peanut butter cups, mini marshmallows, choco chips, Christmas M&M’s, pretzels, sprinkles, or any other add-ins of your choice.
Serve it immediately.
Puppy Chow Ingredients
Chex Cereal – My favorite choice of cereal for puppy chow is rice chex cereal which is gluten free. You can use the whole box of Chex cereal to make chex mix puppy chow. It might seem a lot, but this stuff is so delicious it will move fast.
Dark Chocolate Chips – Cereal is coated in chocolate for a puppy chow recipe. Use premium quality dark chocolate to coat the cereal mix. You can use dark choco chips or dark chocolate bark chopped into pieces and melt in microwave.
Peanut Butter – Most chex muddy buddies recipes uses chocolate and peanut butter to coat the cereal. The combination of chocolate and peanut butter is irresistible. Melt peanut butter along with chocolate in microwave.
Powdered Sugar – This sugary sweet get’s it completely white snow look from powdered sugar. Chocolate-peanut butter coated Chex cereal is mixed with powdered sugar using a large zip lock bag.
Vanilla – for that added extra flavor add vanilla extra to the chocolate peanut butter mix. Add it once chocolate is completely melted.
Mini Marshmallow – S’mores puppy chow isn’t complete without marshmallows. Mini marshmallows works best. You can simply add the mini marshmallows in the chocolate-peanut butter sauce and melt it or just mix it with chex cereal and coat it with chocolate-peanut butter.
Add-ons – S’mores puppy chow basically has mini marshmallows, chex cereal coated in chocolate-peanut butter and then coated with powdered sugar. While you can stop just right there, you can also try adding in more add-one.
Some of the most popular add ons that will work best are –
Miniature Reese peanut butter cups
Mini marshmallows
Choco chips
Christmas M&M’s
Pretzels
Christmas sprinkles,
or just go ahead with any other add-ons of your choice.
Puppy Chow Snack Recipe
Puppy chow with chex mix starts with chex cereal. Use any chex cereal or square cereal. Golden graham cereal or rice chex cereal which ever you like.
Quickly melt chocolate with peanut butter in microwavable safe bowl for 30 seconds interval for 2 to 3 times stirring in between.
Once chocolate-peanut butter is completely melted, add in vanilla extract and mini marshmallows.
Pro-Tip : Do not over heat chocolate peanut butter once you add in mini marshmallows. Marshmallows under high heat will solidify and turn very thick.
Do not use old marshmallows. They’re dry and won’t melt good.
Don’t bother if marshmallows are not completely melted.
Have a whole box or half the box of chex cereal mix in large bowl. If you don’t have a bowl big enough to hold all the cereal, use large zip lock bag.
Pour chocolate-peanut butter over cereal and mix gently.
Pro-Tip: do not over mix. Make sure not to break chex cereal. Ensure everything is completely coated in chocolate peanut butter mix.
Then add in powdered sugar and shake well to completely coat in powdered sugar.
If you want to add extra add on ingredients, now is the time. Add them all and toss well.
Transfer to a bowl and serve.
Left overs can be stored in air tight box for up to a week. Make sure the chocolate and sugar coating are completely dry before you store.
Pro-Tip: Spread puppy chow on a large tray to dry them fast.
Puppy Chow Recipe Variations
What we have shared today is S’more puppy chow recipe using marshmallows.
You can definitely customize your own recipe to make your own puppy chow recipe variations.
Are you allergic to peanuts? – Eliminate peanut butter entirely. You can also swap it for Nutella.
Peppermint Puppy Chow – Crush peppermint candy canes and add it to the puppy chow mix along with kisses.
Sugar Cookie Puppy Chow – Chex cereal coated in almond bark, and then covered in funfetti cake mix sprinkled with colorful sprinkles.
Cookie and Cream Puppy Chow – Chex cereal half coated in dark chocolate and chocolate pudding mix and another half in white chocolate and vanilla pudding mix. Mix in mini Oreos for added taste.
Pumpkin Spice Puppy Chow – Melt white chocolate, peanut butter, vanilla extract and pumpkin spice together and coat over chex cereal. Finally coat in powdered sugar.
Caramel Apple Puppy Chow – Melt almond bark and drizzle caramel over it. Coat chex cereal and dried apple bits with almond melt and finally coat powdered sugar.
Brownie Mix Puppy Chow – Melt dark chocolate, vanilla and peanut butter. Coat cereal mix with the melted mix. Transfer to zip lock bag and add in brownie mix. Add on mini Reese peanut butter cups for added taste.
You can do endless variations.
Looking for more ideas of Christmas edible gifts?
Check these out –
Instant Pot Popcorn (+3 flavoring ideas)
Irish Shortbread Christmas Tree Cookies
Eggless Gingerbread Man Cookies
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S’mores Puppy Chow Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups Chex cereal + 1 ½ cup extra (to be used as add-ons)
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips or dark chocolate bark
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 ¾ cups mini marshmallows
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt optional
- 1 ½ cup confectioners powdered sugar
Add-ons
- Mini marshmallows
- Mini Reese peanut butter cups I used the normal Reese cups, chopped into half
- Chocolate chips
- Christmas M&M
Instructions
- In a microwaveable bowl melt dark chocolate and peanut butter for 30 seconds interval for 2-3 times stirring in between.
- Pro-Tip: I prefer to use dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips. It’s sugar loaded snack, so using dark chocolate cuts down the sweetness to a bit.
- Once completely melted, add in vanilla extract and ¾ cup mini marshmallows and stir well.
- Pro-Tip: DO NOT heat on high temperature once marshmallow is added. Stir in the marshmallows in microwave for 30 seconds to a minute on low temperature. Marshmallows will thicken and turn chocolate mix hard if heated on high temperature.
- No need to completely melt the marshmallows. The heat of the microwaveable jar will begin to slightly melt, that sound be enough.
- Have chex cereal mix ready in a large mixing bowl or a gallon sized zip lock bag. Pour the chocolate mix over the cereal. Stir or mix gently to coat.
- Pro-Tip: be gentle while stirring. You don’t want to break the cereal, don’t worry about clump together. Cereal should be completely coated in chocolate.
- Load these chocolate coated cereal in zip lock bag with powdered sugar and shake it well. Everything should be coated well with sugar.
- Wait for the puppy chow to dry. Then mix in the add-ins. Miniature Reese peanut butter cups, mini marshmallows, naked Chex cereals, choco chips, Christmas M&M’s, pretzels, sprinkles, or any other add-ins of your choice.
- Serve it immediately. Or store it in air tight container for up-to a week.
Catherine
This is such a fun snack treat for the holiday season! Perfect for movie night or holiday parties…puppy chow is always fun to have on hand!
jyothirajesh
Thank you Catherine. This was big hit with my kids
Byron Thomas
Oh, this looks sinfully delicious! I just made a batch about a week ago and even though it looks very similar to yours, there are some differences. I never thought about adding mini marshmallows to the mix. Sounds great. Do you think they could be melted into the chocolate?
jyothirajesh
Thank you Bryon. Marshmallows do melt a bit in the heat of the chocolate, I wouldn’t heat it much once mini marshmallows are added as it turns the sauce thick.
Mahy Elamin
All of these s’mores recipes are making me really hungry!!! I can definitely see myself making this one! Pinning!
jyothirajesh
Thank you Mahy
Pavani
I didn’t know puppy chow is this inviting and addictive snack 🙂 I can see myself eating bowl full of this. Perfect snack to have around the holidays,
jyothirajesh
Thank you Pavani, my kids loved it
Claudia Lamascolo
I love that this is all dressed up for the holiday in red and green candy it is so festive and looks great!
jyothirajesh
Thank you Claudia
Karyl Henry
I don’t know that I could make this, because I would eat the whole thing before my guests arrived! I love every single ingredient in here, and I love how easy it is to maek
jyothirajesh
haha, true Karyl, they make a great snack and totally addictive too
Cheese Curd In Paradise
This certainly is the ultimate puppy chow! I love the addition of the marshmallows and the peanut butter cups! This is something my boys would rave about!
jyothirajesh
My kids loved it. Hope you give it a try. Thank you
Mirlene
What a great snack to have and bring everyone around the table for a good conversation. These snacks are what perfect around the holiday season. It’s comforting. I am looking forward to trying your smores puppy chow recipe. Looks great.
jyothirajesh
Thank you Mirlene. So glad you loved it. Do try it, I’m pretty sure it’ll be big hit with family and friends