Snarf Snacks
A few years ago, as I wrote previously, my husband G. Grod and I saw a television commercial for Chex cereal that equated making Chex Mix with being a mother. It concerned me; I was a mother, yet I’d never made Chex mix. I set about to remedy that at the same time I was reading The Fabulous Bouncing Chowder to now 6yo Drake, and he re-named the Chex mix (or Chex-cereal-imitator mix) Snarf Snacks, after the doggie treats in the book. The name stuck, and I experimented until I came up with the following sweet snack mix.
Girl Detective’s Sweet Spicy Snarf Snacks
(shown with dried cherries, pecans and dark chocolate candy)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 tablespoons flax meal
2 tablespoons shredded coconut6 cups Chex-like cereal (I use Cascadian Farms Multigrain Squares)
1 cup nuts: walnuts, pecans, peanuts or almonds
1 cup small pretzels
1 cup chow mein noodles1/2 cup dried fruit: cherries, blueberries, raisins, cranberries, whatever you like
1/2 cup semi- or bitter-sweet chocolate chips1. Heat over to 250F. Grease large roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet.
2. Combine first 8 ingredients in small saucepan. Heat to boil, stir to combine, take off heat and let cool slightly.
3. In large glass bowl, mix cereal, nuts, pretzels and noodles.
4. Pour sauce over; mix until evenly distributed (I used my hands.)
5. Bake 45 minutes in prepared pan, stirring every 15 minutes to prevent burning. Cool about 15 minutes, then stir in fruit and chips. Store in an airtight container.
This recipe is extremely adaptable. Don’t like my spices? Try other ones. Add ingredients, use M & Ms instead of chips, as I did for the picture above, don’t use ingredients you don’t like or can’t find. For those interested in savory, Cook’s Country has a good recipe for Asian Firecracker Mix with wasabi peas, which I wrote about here.
January 17th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
This snack mix sounds incredible…and potentially addictive. Can’t wait to try it. Will be perfect for next weekend’s playoff games. Thanks!