Sweet Minglers: Valentine’s Day Treats For Kids {Pssst-Adults Love Them Too}

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and I’ve got a fun and easy treat for you! I’ve been making this for years, ever since my mom started making it for the holidays when I was younger. She called them “sweet minglers,” which comes from the Kellogg’s recipe. They have many different names including muddy buddies, puppy chow, etc. I like “sweet minglers” because it’s perfect for many holidays, including Valentine’s Day, especially with my extra ingredient.

Here are the ingredients for my version:

9cups Rice Chex, Corn Chex, Crispix, or a similar cereal (I think this could be fun with various types of Cheerios as well, but I haven’t tried it myself)
1 1/4cup semisweet chocolate chips
1cup peanut butter
1/4cup butter or margarine
1teaspoon vanilla
2cups powdered sugar
& Valentine’s colored M & M’s to taste

Directions:

First, measure cereal into a large bowl and set aside. Next, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in 1- quart bowl uncovered on high for 1 minute. Stir and microwave for 30-45 more seconds until mixture is stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal and stir evenly until coated. Split and pour into 2 gallon sized ziploc bags. Alternate between pouring cereal mixture and powdered sugar to avoid getting powdered sugar stuck in corners of the bag. Continue until you’ve separated your powdered sugar and cereal mixture into 2 bags. Seal the bags and place each inside a separate gallon ziploc bag to ensure you don’t bust a hole and spill powdered sugar all over the place. Now, (insert Taylor Swift voice here) shake it up, shake it up…until it’s well coated! I add extra sugar to the recipe to get the results above. I prefer the completely covered in sugar look and taste, versus the dark mixture that results if you use the amount recommended on the box recipe. Here comes the fun part, if you weren’t already having fun! Add Valentine’s colored M & M’s to taste. Place bags in the refrigerator for an hour (or less if you are really craving the minglers, which is usually the case at our house). Lastly, all you need to do is find a cute and simple way of packaging your treats to share with co-workers, or your child’s teachers and friends!