Last year at Christmas I was looking through my pantry and thinking…hmmm… we don’t eat cereal, what can I do with these crispy rice squares? I’ve seen puppy chow my entire life but it normally sent me running away (because I have a deathly allergy to peanuts). Hmmmm could I make an allergen free version of Puppy Chow? My sister, who can have peanut butter, was over so I asked her to help me and taste test to see if it actually tasted the same as the peanuty version. Apparently it does! Her exact words…. “Oh my God, I never thought about it! You’ve never been able to taste the goodness of chocolate and peanut butter”! Nope, I haven’t – but according to her this is similar.
To be quite honest, I’m glad I can’t because this tastes so good it’s like addicting and there’s A LOT of sugar in it. Because of that I’ve vowed to only make this 1x per year as an extra special treat. It’s so sweet that you can literally feel the sugar rush and also feel yourself coming down from it. Last year I made it for Christmas, this year I made so many (too many) Christmas cookies so I decided to make this for my husband for Valentines Day. That’s really the only reason I’m calling it Valentine’s Day Puppy Chow, well that and because of the addition of freeze dried strawberries. This recipe is adapted from the one on the back of Chex cereal.
Puppy Chow without Peanut Butter (with Valentine’s Day option!)
9 cups Rice or Corn crispy cereal squares
1/2 cup Sun Butter Sunflower Seed Spread
1 cup Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/4 cup grass fed butter (or dairy free alternative like Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Optional: 1+ cups freeze dried strawberries like these
Place powdered sugar in a gallon sized plastic storage bag. Heat chocolate chips, butter, vanilla, and sun butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth. In a bowl, pour mixture over the crispy cereal squares and stir to coat. Dump coated cereal squares into the plastic storage bag with the powdered sugar and shake to coat. If desired, toss with 1 cup freeze dried strawberries!
Leave a Reply