Chex Mix - two sweet versions

Chex Mix is one of my favorite things about this time of year. Well, actually, I make Chex Mix all year long, but this is about the only time you can find the cereal on sale. Recently my local grocery store had a sale, 4 boxes of Chex cereal for $6. I stocked up.

One thing I like to do with homemade Chex Mix is bag it up and give it to friends as gifts. It's very well received and I often get requests to make more.

Here are two of my favorite Chex Mix recipes, both of them sweet. But a little salty too because of the pretzels. Sweet and salty is good. Enjoy!

White Chex Mix

2 cups Corn Chex
2 cups mini pretzels
1 cup dry roasted peanuts
20 caramels, chopped
1 pkg white chocolate chips

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring until smooth. Pour over the cereal mixture and stir to coat. Spread on waxed paper until hardened. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

The hardest part of this recipe is unwrapping the caramels and chopping them up. If you want to save yourself a little time, you can use the Kraft caramel bits found in the baking aisle. They're not as sweet and chewy as the square caramels, though.

Plan to double or triple this recipe. You won't be able to stop eating it and your gift recipients might not get any if you don't make plenty! Don't say I didn't warn you.


Sweet Almond Chex Mix

4 cups Corn Chex
4 cups Rice Chex
2 cups pretzel nuggets
1 cups almonds (you can use whole pecans, but then you'll have to call this Sweet Pecan Chex Mix)
3/4 cup brown sugar
6 TBSP butter
3 TBSP corn syrup
1/4 teas baking soda

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. In a saucepan, melt the sugar, butter and corn syrup together. Cook and stir until it comes to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Pour over cereal mixture and stir to coat. Transfer to a greased cookie sheet or two. Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. Stir and bake for 5 more minutes. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Both of these sweet recipes make delightful gifts to pass on to friends. Just make enough so you can have some too. After all, you wouldn't want to give someone an edible gift you hadn't tried yourself, right?

For more food gift ideas, check out the Recipe Swap going on over at Life as Mom.