I love snack mixes and can scarf huge handfuls in record speed. This is one of those recipes that I shouldn’t even make because scarfing was in full effect. It’s a new favorite snack mix and I’ve sampled plenty. Puppy Chow, White Chocolate Peanut Butter Puppy Chow, White Trash Candy (I didn’t come up with the titles). I love them all. This mix comes together in under 10 minutes, which is a blessing and a curse.
I used popcorn in it, which is something I eat almost daily. Usually with coconut oil sprayed lightly, and sprinkled with nutritional yeast and stevia. I love the combo of cheezy, salty, and sweet, and it’s healthy. The popcorn in the snack mix is a little different. It’s coated with a melted white chocolate and peanut butter mixture, along with Chex cereal, sprinkles, and two broiled buttery waffles.
Start by generously buttering two frozen waffles or making your own waffles if you’d like. Trader Joe’s multi-grain from the freezer case work just dandy. Broil them for a couple minutes and don’t leave the oven. Charred waffles happen quickly and you’d have to start over. I despise starting over. You could also toast them in a regular toaster and butter them. I thought broiling would make them crispier. In the end, not sure if broiling versus toasting really mattered in terms of crispiness, so do what’s easiest. Chop them up into little pieces and put them in a big mixing bowl.
Place 2 heaping tablespoons popcorn kernels in a brown paper sack and microwave for 90 seconds. This yields about 4 cups popped popcorn. This is how I always pop popcorn. Works like a charm, every time. No added oil, grease, salt or chemicals. And no dishes dirtied. I re-use the paper bag at least 20 times. Truly the cheapest and healthiest way to make microwave popcorn.
Chop 6 squares (6 ounces) of Vanilla Candiquik or your favorite white chocolate bar. Put a piece of parchment paper on your cutting board before you start chopping to contain all the chocolate dust, rendering cleanup much faster and easier. Melt the chocolate, about 1 minute total, but stop, stir, and check every 15 seconds. White chocolate scorches and seizes quickly and easily, which is why I opted for Candiquik since it’s less prone to that.
Stir in a hearty dollop of peanut butter to the melted white chocolate. Pour this over the buttery waffle pieces, popcorn, Chex, and stir.
Feel free to get creative and mix-and-match the add-ins. Try mini pretzels, caramel corn, chopped Graham Crackers, another cereal, chopped candy bar pieces, peanuts or your favorite nut. Clear out your odds and ends and bottoms of bags that plague your cupboard. Everything tastes amazing drenched in melted white chocolate-peanut butter. Dust or douse with confectioners’ sugar and sprinkles. Your choice. I lean toward dousing. Stir and dig in.
In theory, this should keep for nearly a week in an airtight container or gallon-sized Ziplock, although it’s crispiest when it’s freshest. I don’t get it to last more than two days because it’s crazy good. The waffles are like little buttery sponges. Soft, squishy, and full of butteriness. Contrasted with crispy, crunchy Chex and the texture-filled popcorn. It’s a texture party in your mouth. The white chocolate flavor is the more pronounced than the peanut butter, which does more to bulk up the coating so it’s thicker. I love those little nuggets with sprinkles clung to them.
You’ve been warned that it’s super addictive. The good thing is that the batch size isn’t ridiculous, and fills just over half of a gallon-sized Ziplock. A manageable quantity, especially if you’re tempted to eat the whole batch, pronto. Sweet, crunchy, crispy, buttery, fast, and easy. With white chocolate and peanut butter. Hard to resist.
Related Recipes:
White Chocolate Vanilla Peanut Butter Puppy Chow (GF) Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Peanut Butter Chex Mix, aka “Puppy Chow” (vegan, GF) Buttery Toasted Captain Crunchies (Vegan & GF options)
Cinnamon Sugar Chocolate Pretzels (no-bake, vegan, GF)
Parmesan Ranch Snack Mix (no-bake)
Vanilla Cake Batter and White Chocolate Chip Caramel Corn
Do you like snack or party mixes? Puppy Chow or other similar recipes? Do you prefer sweeter or more savory party mixes? Sweet all the way for me. Salty-and-sweet is good, but I’ll always take cake batter or white chocolate over Parmesan ranch. Leave links to your favorite recipes.
